The Unmaking of Israel (32 page)

74
be a Nahal position:
Cabinet discussion: Admoni,
Asor Shel Shikul Da’at
51–53; Pedatzur,
Nitzahon Hemukhah
186, 193–94; Lammfromm and Tsoref,
Levi Eshkol
576–77. Press:
Davar, Hatzofeh, Ha’aretz, Hayom, Jerusalem Post, Lamerhav, Ma’ariv
,
Yediot Aharonot
, 28 Sept. 1967. Diplomats: YLE 5/31, cable 676.

74
tells the real story:
IDFA 2845/1997/46/32. Declassified in response to my HCJ suit against the IDF Archives. Gazit’s official position was coordinator of government activities in the territories.

75
“contravenes international conventions”:
ISA 153.8/7920/7-Alef, doc. 60, 15 Oct. 1968.

76
“forced transfer of [its] civilians”:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Israel’s Settlements—Their Conformity with International Law,” Dec. 1996, www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0dgj0, acc. 1 Nov. 2010. The statement, like nearly every legal defense of the settlements in the past twenty years, cites Eugene Rostow’s letter to the
American Journal of International Law
84 (July 1990): 717–23. Rostow, who served as undersecretary of state for political affairs in the Johnson administration, presented the same arguments in two articles in the
New Republic
, published on 23 April 1991 and 21 Oct. 1991. Settlement advocates’ frequent citation of Rostow’s position obscures how unusual it is among authorities on international law. At the time Rostow served as undersecretary, the State Department warned Israel that settlements violated the Geneva Convention. NARA RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 ARAB-ISR, CA-7122, “Israeli Settlements in Occupied Territory.”

76
settlement by the occupying power:
Kretzmer,
Occupation of Justice
77. See notes there for key sources on legality of settlement.

76
occupation do not apply:
Meir Shamgar, who was IDF judge advocate-general (chief legal officer) in 1967, and later became chief justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, made this argument in 1971, when he was Israel’s attorney general. He, in turn, cited Hebrew University professor Yehudah Blum. Meir Shamgar, “The Observance of International Law in the Administered Territories,”
Israel Yearbook on Human Rights
1 (1971): 262–65. The Israeli Foreign Ministry statement cited above (“Israel’s Settlements—Their Conformity with International Law,” December 1996) alludes to this position. Kretzmer,
Occupation of Justice
33–34, details the holes in this argument.

76
sovereignty over occupied territory:
Stephen M. Boyd, “The Applicability of International Law to the Occupied Territories,”
Israel Yearbook on Human Rights
1 (1971): 258–61.

76
“demographic, social status quo”:
Meron, interview. Cf. Boyd, “Applicability.”

76
mandate is still in force:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Israel’s Settlements”; Yehuda Zvi Blum, “Tzion Bemishpat Beinle’umi Nifdetah,”
Hapraklit
27 (1971): 315–24. I note that while the Israeli Supreme Court has never ruled on the legality of settlement as such, the status of the League of Nations mandate arose in its ruling allowing evacuation of the Gaza Strip settlements, HCJ 1661/05. One justice, Edmund Levy, wrote a dissent arguing that the right of settlement throughout Mandatory Palestine remained in force. The other ten justices did not accept this view. elyon1.court.gov.il/files/05/610/016/a20/05016610.a20.HTM, acc. 1 Nov 2010.

77
promulgated on July 2, 1967:
Yuval Ginbar,
On the Way to Annexation: Human Rights Violations Resulting from the Establishment and Expansion of the Ma’aleh Adumim Settlement
(Jerusalem: B’tselem, 1999): 13, and n. 44 there.

77
extended the emergency regulation:
Hok Leha’arakhat Tokpan shel Takanot Sha’at Herum (Aveirot Bashtahim Hamuhzakim—Shiput Ve’ezrah Mishpatit), 1967.

78
settlers were allowed to vote:
MER 5:345ff. In 1969, nine polling stations were set up to serve approximately one thousand Israelis living in the West Bank and Golan Heights. The election law was only formally changed the following year.

78
granted National Insurance coverage:
Hok Leha’arakhat Tokpan shel Takanot Sha’at Herum (Yehudah Vehashomron Vehevel Aza—Shiput Be’averot Ve’ezrah Mishpatit), 1977, amended text, www.takdin.co.il/search/NetisUtils/srvrutil_getdoc.aspx?path=/nepsdoc/2L3aqN5HJJ4WmD3WkLL14BcXqRMm0/TSLH048.UPD.html, acc. 5 Jan. 2010.

78
had reached 81,000:
Central Bureau of Statistics,
Statistical Abstract of Israel 2010
, table 2:7.

78
gave settlers health insurance:
Hok Leha’arakhat Tokpan shel Takanot Sha’at Herum, 1977, amended text.

78
the councils’ jurisdiction:
Orders 783 and 892, in
Dinei Hamoatzot Hamekomiot Vehamoatzot Ha’eizoriot Be’eizor Yehudah Veshomron
(Interior Ministry, 1996).

79
for the Gaza Strip:
Ginbar,
On the Way to Annexation
16, n. 59.

79
negotiations were about to start:
William B. Quandt,
Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab Israeli Conflict since 1967
(Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution/University of California, 1993): 326–29, 341, 446–48, 472–73.

79
as if they were residents:
For example, a 1984 addition extended various laws on personal status to settlements, including the law on the legal age of marriage. The order states that if the couple’s residence is the West Bank, the law will apply “as if it were in Israel.”
Dinei Hamoatzot Hamekomiot
, 281.

79
equality before the law:
Kretzmer,
Occupation of Justice
27; Kretzmer, interview.

80
eighth of the total area:
Yehezkel Lein,
Land Grab: Israel’s Settlement Policy in the West Bank
(Jerusalem: B’Tselem, 2002), states that by 1972, Israel had identified 687 square kilometers of the West Bank as state land, out of a total land area of 5,640 square kilometers.

80
the 1907 Hague Regulations:
Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land (The Hague, 18 October 1907), Article 55, www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/195, acc. November 2, 2010.

80
to create permanent change:
Shlomo Gazit, who served as coordinator of government activities in the territories in the first years of the occupation, states succinctly in his 1999 study of the occupation,
Peta’im Bemalkodet
(Trapped) (Tel Aviv: Zmora-Bitan, 1999): 245, “Israeli settlements in the territories were, without a doubt, a purpose that was not temporary.”

81
after the Six-Day War:
Lein,
Land Grab
58–59.

81
settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim:
Gershom Gorenberg, “Failure Written in West Bank Stone,”
Washington Post
, 30 Sept. 2008. After a long freedom-of-information legal battle, Israeli activist Dror Etkes obtained details on the expropriation from the Civil Administration in the West Bank. A map of the area can be accessed via southjerusalem.com/settlement-and-occupation-historical-documents/.

81
one of the three largest:
As of July 2008, the Interior Ministry listed 34,989 residents registered as living in Ma’aleh Adumim.

81
expropriation only for public use:
Hague Regulations, article 46; Lein,
Land Grab
60–61.

81
temporarily for military purposes:
Hague Regulations, article 52.

81
which has to guard them:
Newman, “Territorial Politics” 66–69.

82
the court’s jurisdiction:
Kretzmer,
Occupation of Justice
1–2, 19–21; Moshe Negbi,
Kevalim Shel Tzedek: Bagatz Mul Hamemshal Hayisraeli Bishtahim
(Justice under Occupation: The Israeli Supreme Court versus the Military Administration in the Occupied Territories) (Jerusalem: Cana, 1981): 12–18.

82
“supervision of military bodies”:
Shamgar, interview.

82
“dubious legal arguments”:
Kretzmer,
Occupation of Justice
3.

82
returned the land to its owners:
HCJ 390/79; Kretzmer,
Occupation of Justice
85–89; Negbi,
Kevalim Shel Tzedek
50–68.

83
the state in the first place:
The explanation of West Bank land law here is meant only as a brief overview. Sources include Eyal Zamir,
Admot Medinah Biyehudah Vehashomron: Skirah Mishpatit
(State Land in Judea and Samaria: The Legal Status) (Jerusalem: JIIS, 1985); Raja Shehadeh,
Occupier’s Law: Israel and the West Bank
(Washington, D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1985): 15–49; Plia Albeck, “Hashimush Bekarka’ot Biyehudah Uveshomron Letzorekh Hahityashvut Hayehudit,” in
Ha’aliyah El Hehar: Hahityashvut Hayehudit Hamithadeshet Biyehudah Veshomron
(Ascent to the Mountains: Renewal of Jewish Settlement in Judea and Samaria), ed. Avraham Shvut (Jerusalem: Sifriat Beit El, 2002): 221–31; Lein,
Land Grab
47–64; Benn, “Behitnahaluyot Yesh Element Shel Zmaniut”; State Comptroller, Report 56a (2005): 190–95; Shlomo Zecharia, interview; Nir Shalev, correspondence.

84
until private ownership was proven:
Albeck, “Hashimush” 226.

84
“holy about the Green Line”:
Benn, “Behitnahaluyot Yesh Element Shel Zmaniut.”

85
this should be kept secret:
Moshe Glick to Plia Albeck, 28 Aug. 1990; Plia Albeck to Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, 16 Nov. 1990; Plia Albeck to Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, 8 Nov. 1992. The correspondence was revealed by counsel for the Fund for Redemption of the Soil and Green Park, a Canadian development company, in response to a High Court of Justice petition (HCJ 8414/05) by residents of the Palestinian village of Bilin against the route of the Israeli security fence through their land. The fence route was intended to allow continued development of the Modi’in Illit settlement; Green Park was one of the developers. Green Park and the Fund claimed that the Fund had bought the land for the development and that they had a vested interest in it. See Shaul Arieli and Michael Sfard,
Homah Umehdal: Gader Hahafradah—Bitahon O Hamdanut
(The Wall of Folly) (Tel Aviv: Sifrei Aliyat Hagag, 2008): 346–52.

86
development on Palestinian property:
Spiegel Report.

86
the theft take place:
The Peace Now Settlement Watch report, “Illegal Construction in the Settlements: The List of Demolition Orders,” 4 Dec. 2007, based on information provided by the Civil Administration, states that the Civil Administration opened 3,449 files against illegal construction in settlements in the preceding decade. The Civil Administration actually razed only 107 structures; another 171 were taken down by the offenders. However, these figures include building that is illegal for a variety of reasons. The report does not indicate how many of the files deal with construction on stolen property.

86
a strongly worded, despairing report:
Yehudit Karp,
Hakirat Hashadot Neged Yehudim Biyehudah Veshomron
(Justice Ministry, 1982).

88
he served three:
Ha’aretz
, 2 May 1990, 15 Aug. 1990.

88
example of schizophrenic justice:
On the underground affair, see Gorenberg,
End of Days
116–18, 132–37.

88
that she sought:
The “Shamgar I” report on the 1994 massacre in Hebron lists the virtually same problems in law enforcement, twelve years after the Karp Report.
Vaadat Hahakirah Le’inyan Hatevah Bime’arat Hamakhpelah Behevron: Din Veheshbon
(Jerusalem, 1994).

88
protecting Israelis, not Palestinians:
Yehudit Karp, interview.

90
participation in modern society:
Menachem Klein,
Bar-Ilan: Akademiah, Dat Vepolitikah
(Bar-Ilan University between Religion and Politics) (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1998), 139.

90
live in religious kibbutzim:
Danny Rubinstein,
Mi Lashem Elai: Gush Emunim
(On the Lord’s Side: Gush Emunim) (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hame’uhad, 1982); Yisrael Harel, interview;
Zra’im
, Iyar 5727 (May–June 1967): 9–12.

91
more than seriously studied:
Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook,
Orot
(Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 5753 [1992–93]): 9, 83–85, 102–4, 121–23; Aviezer Ravitzky,
Haketz Hameguleh Umedinat Hayehudim
(Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism) (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1993): chap. 3.

91
“power—conquering the Land”:
Speech given by Tzvi Yehudah Kook on the night of Israeli Independence Day, May 14, 1967. Transcribed by students, it was published as “Mizmor Yod-Tet Shel Medinat Yisrael,” in various formats, including Ben-Ami,
Hakol
65–75.

91
“no complete redemption”:
Ya’akov Halevi Filber,
Ayelet Hashahar
(Jerusalem: Haskel, 5728 [1967–68] ): 32.