How Israel Helps Settler Group Move Jews Into East Jerusalem’s Silwan

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by Nir Hasson         6 January 2016          Haaretz

Over the years, a government department has stood shoulder to shoulder with Ateret Cohanim, (the land-grab-for-settlers organisation.Ed), in its struggles against Palestinian families who sought to remain in their homes.

The East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.Olivier Fitoussi

In the mid-1990s, Ilan Shtayer, a research assistant at the Ben-Zvi Institute for the study of the Land of Israel, was asked, together with others, to conduct historical geographical research about the Yemenite Jewish section of the Arab village of Silwan near Jerusalem’s Old City. The team collected maps, aerial photographs and written sources and wrote their study of the neighborhood, where Yemenites lived from the 19th century until the riots of 1929. Among their tasks was to locate land purchased by Jewish philanthropists to build the neighborhood for the new immigrants from Yemen who arrived in 1882.

As far as Shtayer knew, the bodies commissioning the research were the Administrator General’s office, a Justice Ministry unit responsible for selling property of various kinds that is given to Israel, and Yad Ben-Zvi. Only after the report was completed and the researchers met with the research steering committee, did they realize that alongside Administrator General personnel, they found representatives of the right-wing Ateret Cohanim organization were sitting. “I remember I was very surprised to see them in the room,” Shtayer says.

The research Shtayer and his colleagues carried out was the first step in a long legal battle to make the Silwan neighborhood of Batan el-Hawa Jewish. But it was also the beginning of a close and unusual relationship between Ateret Cohanim and the Administrator General. Over the years, that government department has provided Ateret Cohanim with opinions and permits and sold the land to the association at a convenient price, and generally stood shoulder to shoulder with Ateret Cohanim in its struggles against Palestinian families who sought to remain in their homes.

After the 1990s research was used to map Jewish properties in Silwan, the next phase was for Ateret Cohanim to take possession of the historical hekdesh – the association that purchased the property in the 19th century and legally speaking is still the owner. The turning point was in 2001, when the Jerusalem District Court approved the appointment of three new individuals as trustees of the hekdesh: M., who works for Ateret Cohanim, taking care of details involving the evacuation of Palestinian families; A., a lawyer representing the association, and Y., a well-known rabbi in Jerusalem who is close to Ateret Cohanim. The Administrator General supported Ateret Cohanim’s application for their people to be appointed trustees.

Haaretz is still waging a legal battle, which went all the way to the Supreme Court, to have a gag order lifted on the names of the individuals in question; the court approved their request to keep their names confidential because revealing them could put them in danger.

A year after the District Court’s ruling, the new trustees asked the government’s administrator of properties to release land to the hekdesh. The administrator approved the request and transferred to the hekdesh 5.5 dunams (about 1.3 acres) in the heart of Silwan, where hundreds of Palestinians live. Ateret Cohanim then launched the legal process to evict the Palestinian families.

A year ago, in an effort to remove all doubt, the deputy head of the office of the administrator of absentee property, Sigal Ya’akobi, signed another document releasing the land to the three trustees. This time, the precise lots are mentioned: 95 and 96, according to official Israeli land records.

But the administrator’s most problematic decision was to sell four other lots to the hekdesh that were not part of its original land. This happened in 2005, when the administrator realized that the original owners could not be located. The land, almost 2,000 square meters, was sold for 995,825 shekels ($253, 240).

Why did a right-wing group receive the right to purchase the property in the densely populated heart of Silwan, at such a low price and without a tender? According to law, the administrator must give priority in selling property to individuals in possession of or living in nearby assets. But a glance at the map shows that two of the lots are not adjacent to the hekdesh and are surrounded on all sides by Palestinian lands. Two other lots owned by the hekdesh are adjacent to it only on one side, meaning that three or four neighbors other than the hekdesh could be potential purchasers – but they were not given the opportunity to do so because the administrator did not publish a tender.

Regular property costs in Silwan show what a low price Ateret Cohanim paid. According to records of the Tax Authority, an average apartment in Silwan goes for 1.2 million shekels. In 2005 prices were significantly lower, but according to experts, they have not changed as drastically as in the western part of town and the rest of the country.

According to a Justice Ministry statement released in the name of the Administrator General’s office, the price Ateret Cohanim paid is higher than the value determined by a real estate assessor.

The administrator did not deny that no tender had been issued and gave no explanation for this, or for the fact that preference was given to Ateret Cohanim.

The Duweik family, one of those living in hekdesh property, has been waging various legal battles against Ateret Cohanim. The family has so far lost in the Jerusalem District Court and the Supreme Court in a suit brought by Ateret Cohanim against illegal construction the family carried out, and Ateret Cohanim is now suing to have the family evicted.

One of the family’s attorneys, Hussam Siam, says the administrator’s conduct shows the close connections with Ateret Cohanim. The court had ordered the administrator to allow the family’s legal team access to all documents, Siam says. “But when we came to the administrator’s office, their representatives and Ateret Cohanim people were sitting there and every important document we wanted to see they said, ‘no, that’s forbidden, that’s confidential.’'

Jerusalem District Court Judge Aharon Farkash dismissed that argument, saying that the family should have subpoenaed the administrator’s employees to cross-examine them about it.

Attorney Mohammad Dahla, who represents Palestinian families in Silwan, and other lawyers have identified a number of ways to take over property in East Jerusalem that had belonged to Jews before 1948. Appointing trustees to hekdesh property is one way. Another, used in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, is to locate the Jewish heirs to various properties, have them sign power of attorney over to the association and approach the administrator’s office in the name of the heirs with a request to release the property. The association then purchases it from the Jewish family, and moves people in. In most cases, right-wing activists play “matchmaker” between the heirs and donors from abroad who purchase it from them.

A third method is for right-wing activists to approach the administrator’s office directly to request that a property be sold to them. The Custodian of Absentee Property in the Finance Ministry and the Administrator General in the Justice Ministry have sold dozens of properties in East Jerusalem over the years, many of them to groups working to settle Jews in East Jerusalem.

“The deep involvement of the Administrator General and the authorities in transferring assets in Silwan to settlers pulls the rug out from under the government’s claim that these are merely private real-estate dealings,” says Hagit Ofran of Peace Now.

The Justice Ministry spokeswoman said the administrator general “does not manage documentation about the tenants. An amended release certificate was issued at the request of the hekdesh trustees based, among other things, on the opinion of a licensed surveyor… The matter received further validation from the District Court.”

In contrast to the Duweik family’s attorneys’ claim, the spokeswoman said that “in the framework of the legal proceedings the parties were given the opportunity to examine the administrator general’s file.”

As for the sale of properties to the hekdesh, the Justice Ministry spokeswoman said the lots were offered for sale “a decade ago in light of their planning and legal status… while maintaining the broader interests of the owners of the lots.”

Attorney Avraham Moshe Segal, who represents the hekdesh, said: “Haaretz readers should know that the Supreme Court issued a gag order prohibiting Haaretz from published details that could identify those involved in the purchases in Silwan. Haaretz should bow its head and respect the court’s verdict.”

Segal also noted that “four District Court judges noted that the hekdesh is the legal owner of the hekdesh land. This was approved by four Supreme Court justices. All claims by Haaretz were rejected in verdicts of the Supreme Court, a fact that does not stop the newspaper from thinking, mistakenly, that it is a judicial tribunal serving as a court of appeals over the Supreme Court.”

Nir Hasson

Haaretz Correspondent

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The Judaization of an East Jerusalem Neighborhood Gains Steam

The NGO Ateret Cohanim is cooperating with the government to establish a whole Jewish quarter inside the Silwan neighborhood.

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by Nir Hasson Nov 02, 2015   Haaretz

 

The East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. Michal Fattal

Earlier this month, Jerusalem police chief Moshe Edri submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court, explaining why the police couldn’t help remove a synagogue built illegally on privately owned Palestinian land in the settlement Givat Ze’ev.

According to Edri, because of the current terror wave, the police couldn’t divert forces for such a task. As the government stated to the Supreme Court, “the assessment by the Jerusalem district commander is that the security situation requires a further postponement of the demolition of the building.”

But the next day, the day of the planned demolition, the police found hundreds of officers for a different assignment: blocking all entrances to East Jerusalem neighborhood Silwan to protect officials implementing an eviction order. The police let a mover’s truck reach the home of the Abu Nab family, who were moving out so Jews could move in.

The eviction of the Abu Nab family, after a long legal battle, is the latest success of the NGO Ateret Cohanim – with the police’s close cooperation – in expanding the Jewish presence in the heart of Silwan. Unlike settler group Elad, which buys houses in the City of David near the Old City, Ateret Cohanim aims to establish a Jewish neighborhood in the very center of an Arab one.

The takeover of the houses culminates dozens of lawsuits against Palestinian families to persuade them to move in exchange for money, and extreme financial and legal pressure against the families that refuse. In this, Ateret Cohanim enjoys the remarkably close cooperation of the authorities.

Ateret Cohanim portrays itself as an NGO that goes beyond the letter of the law; one that in its benevolence pays Palestinian families to move despite the eviction order they already face.

In any case, the Judaization of Silwan, with all its consequences, is orchestrated by one man, referred to here as M. The Supreme Court has prohibited the publishing of his name or those of Palestinian residents with whom he has signed agreements.

Justice Isaac Amit granted M.’s claim, supported by the attorney general, that his life would be in jeopardy if his name were published. Haaretz argued, through attorney Tal Lieblich of the law firm Lieblich-Moser, that the principle  is not protecting a life but defending Ateret Cohanim’s right to do property deals, with all the security and political ramifications, far from the public eye. And in any case, this argument goes, M. is already well known in Silwan.

M. lives in a West Bank settlement and has been involved in property deals in Hebron. Silwan residents say he has almost unlimited funds at his disposal and enjoys close relations with the police, the Custodian of Absentee Property and other authorities.

In the early 2000s, he began his activities in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood, later to be named the Yemenite Village by Ateret Cohanim. The project would substantially change the character of the small neighborhood.

In honor of Jonathan Pollard

M. co-opted Mohammed Maraga, a young resident, who bought a plot of land from a relative on behalf of Ateret Cohanim. With the help of the NGO, he built a seven-story building containing 10 apartments to become known as Beit Yonatan — in honor of American Jonathan Pollard, still in a U.S. prison for spying for Israel.

The building was put up without a permit. A court order is in place for the structure to be evacuated and sealed, but the execution of the order has been blocked by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

The saga of Beit Yonatan – the complex relations between Maraga and Ateret Cohanim and the betrayal he felt when his family was evicted from Beit Yonatan – was chronicled by Meron Rapoport in a 2005 Haaretz article.

Ateret Cohanim declined to respond for that article, despite the claim that the NGO’s people paid Maraga even though they knew he had executed false property transfers, that they funded an illegal construction project, and that they pampered Maraga with trips abroad and stays in luxury hotels.

Beit Yonatan and the adjacent Beit Dvash, which the Asla family had sold to Maraga, were occupied in 2004. They constituted Ateret Cohanim’s first foothold in the neighborhood.

Three years earlier, in a move that exploited a single technical decision by the district court, M. and Ateret Cohanim became the legal owners of land in the neighborhood inhabited by several hundred Palestinians. M. became the executor of a hekdesh, land declared sacred property more than a century earlier, and was recognized as its owner. This was the opening act in a long legal odyssey to evict local people and move Jews in.

Over the years, the Palestinians brought counterarguments, both legal and moral, against the evictions. One was the complaint that the law only permitted Jews to reclaim property on the other side of the border after the 1947-49 war, while Palestinians who had to abandon property in West Jerusalem and elsewhere were denied this right.

They also raised the issue of the drawing of the hekdesh, and therefore of their status as protected residents.

Inexplicably, and in contrast to all other Jewish property left in Arab East Jerusalem after 1948, neither the Jordanian authorities (until 1967) nor the Israeli authorities (after 1967) made any move to take possession of the area now called the Yemenite Village.

But Ateret Cohanim won the cooperation of the custodian general, and for the most part, the Israeli courts rejected the claims of Palestinians who not only faced eviction but had enormous legal debts.

Narrow street, wide ramifications

Still, even after the drawn-out legal process, it’s not easy to execute the eviction order. Police protection is needed, as well as government approval because of the security and political ramifications.

This is where M. enters the picture. His job is to persuade the Palestinians to move out “in a good way.” The first on his list are the extended Palestinian families in a narrow street between Beit Yonatan and the big building that was taken over in late August.

Every family has to deal with M., either as the plaintiff demanding their evacuation or the buyer offering generous compensation if they leave voluntarily. Or he’s the one who threatens dire consequences if they refuse. He typically uses all three approaches together.

The fruit of M.’s labors have ripened of late. A few months ago, settlers moved into another house after the residents, already facing an eviction order, signed an agreement to leave voluntarily. They received 3.2 million shekels ($830,000) in compensation.

Later, Ateret Cohanim took possession of a large building of more than 10 apartments after paying 2 million shekels to a member of the family that owned the property. In exchange, the family would move out.

Other members of the family are engaged in a legal battle, contending that their relative was not the owner of the building and had no right to transfer it to Jewish ownership. And again, there was the recent departure of the Abu Nab family.

The remaining families are fighting a rearguard action against M. and Ateret Cohanim. The NGO plans to demand the removal of dozens more Palestinian families in the area classified as within the hekdesh.

M.’s greatest achievement was acquiring the building with more than 10 apartments, letting Ateret Cohanim double the number of Jewish families in the neighborhood. (There is a court-imposed gag order on the exact location of the building and the names of the owners.)

Several dozen young Jews occupied the building in the dead of night, but not before a Silwan notable walked away with 2 million shekels. He has not been seen in the neighborhood since, and Haaretz was unable to locate him.

Attorney Avraham Moshe Segal, responding for Ateret Cohanim, quoted Justice Amit’s order that prevented the publication of details of the people involved in the transactions, or of anyone acting on their behalf. He said he thus could not comment on specifics.

“In general, it may be said that after a long legal battle, both in district court and at the Supreme Court, justice has prevailed. [The courts] have determined unequivocally that my clients are the sole owners of many properties in Silwan ... already owned by them in the 19th century. And those who have trespassed on those properties are required to vacate them and return them to my clients,” he said.

“Despite the unequivocal decisions by the various courts, particularly the Supreme Court, my clients offer the trespassers and their families, within and beyond the letter of the law, an opportunity to vacate the properties of their own volition, and receive monetary compensation. Instead of recognizing my clients’ humanitarian and chivalrous conduct, various bodies with their own vested interests have brought false accusations against my clients.”

Meanwhile, regarding the heavy police presence for the eviction of the Abu Nab family, a spokesman for the Jerusalem district said “the police assigned an escort for the executors of the eviction order. It was not a large force, and the eviction was carried out without problems.”

Nir Hasson

Haaretz Correspondent

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The Judaization of an East Jerusalem Neighborhood Gains SteamThe NGO Ateret Cohanim is cooperating with the government to establish a whole Jewish quarter inside the Silwan neighborhood.
Nir Hasson Nov 02, 2015 3:02 AM 18comments  Print    Zen 572   Tweet    
The East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. Michal FattalFive Palestinian families in East Jerusalem evicted from homesRightist NGO demands eviction of seven Palestinian familiesNumber of Jewish Silwan residents doubles in overnight missionEarlier this month, Jerusalem police chief Moshe Edri submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court, explaining why the police couldn’t help remove a synagogue built illegally on privately owned Palestinian land in the settlement Givat Ze’ev.According to Edri, because of the current terror wave, the police couldn’t divert forces for such a task. As the government stated to the Supreme Court, “the assessment by the Jerusalem district commander is that the security situation requires a further postponement of the demolition of the building.”But the next day, the day of the planned demolition, the police found hundreds of officers for a different assignment: blocking all entrances to East Jerusalem neighborhood Silwan to protect officials implementing an eviction order. The police let a mover’s truck reach the home of the Abu Nab family, who were moving out so Jews could move in.The eviction of the Abu Nab family, after a long legal battle, is the latest success of the NGO Ateret Cohanim – with the police’s close cooperation – in expanding the Jewish presence in the heart of Silwan. Unlike settler group Elad, which buys houses in the City of David near the Old City, Ateret Cohanim aims to establish a Jewish neighborhood in the very center of an Arab one.The takeover of the houses culminates dozens of lawsuits against Palestinian families to persuade them to move in exchange for money, and extreme financial and legal pressure against the families that refuse. In this, Ateret Cohanim enjoys the remarkably close cooperation of the authorities.Ateret Cohanim portrays itself as an NGO that goes beyond the letter of the law; one that in its benevolence pays Palestinian families to move despite the eviction order they already face.In any case, the Judaization of Silwan, with all its consequences, is orchestrated by one man, referred to here as M. The Supreme Court has prohibited the publishing of his name or those of Palestinian residents with whom he has signed agreements.Justice Isaac Amit granted M.’s claim, supported by the attorney general, that his life would be in jeopardy if his name were published. Haaretz argued, through attorney Tal Lieblich of the law firm Lieblich-Moser, that the principle  is not protecting a life but defending Ateret Cohanim’s right to do property deals, with all the security and political ramifications, far from the public eye. And in any case, this argument goes, M. is already well known in Silwan.M. lives in a West Bank settlement and has been involved in property deals in Hebron. Silwan residents say he has almost unlimited funds at his disposal and enjoys close relations with the police, the Custodian of Absentee Property and other authorities.In the early 2000s, he began his activities in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood, later to be named the Yemenite Village by Ateret Cohanim. The project would substantially change the character of the small neighborhood.In honor of Jonathan PollardM. co-opted Mohammed Maraga, a young resident, who bought a plot of land from a relative on behalf of Ateret Cohanim. With the help of the NGO, he built a seven-story building containing 10 apartments to become known as Beit Yonatan — in honor of American Jonathan Pollard, still in a U.S. prison for spying for Israel.The building was put up without a permit. A court order is in place for the structure to be evacuated and sealed, but the execution of the order has been blocked by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.The saga of Beit Yonatan – the complex relations between Maraga and Ateret Cohanim and the betrayal he felt when his family was evicted from Beit Yonatan – was chronicled by Meron Rapoport in a 2005 Haaretz article.Ateret Cohanim declined to respond for that article, despite the claim that the NGO’s people paid Maraga even though they knew he had executed false property transfers, that they funded an illegal construction project, and that they pampered Maraga with trips abroad and stays in luxury hotels.Beit Yonatan and the adjacent Beit Dvash, which the Asla family had sold to Maraga, were occupied in 2004. They constituted Ateret Cohanim’s first foothold in the neighborhood.Three years earlier, in a move that exploited a single technical decision by the district court, M. and Ateret Cohanim became the legal owners of land in the neighborhood inhabited by several hundred Palestinians. M. became the executor of a hekdesh, land declared sacred property more than a century earlier, and was recognized as its owner. This was the opening act in a long legal odyssey to evict local people and move Jews in.Over the years, the Palestinians brought counterarguments, both legal and moral, against the evictions. One was the complaint that the law only permitted Jews to reclaim property on the other side of the border after the 1947-49 war, while Palestinians who had to abandon property in West Jerusalem and elsewhere were denied this right.They also raised the issue of the drawing of the hekdesh, and therefore of their status as protected residents. Inexplicably, and in contrast to all other Jewish property left in Arab East Jerusalem after 1948, neither the Jordanian authorities (until 1967) nor the Israeli authorities (after 1967) made any move to take possession of the area now called the Yemenite Village.But Ateret Cohanim won the cooperation of the custodian general, and for the most part, the Israeli courts rejected the claims of Palestinians who not only faced eviction but had enormous legal debts.Narrow street, wide ramificationsStill, even after the drawn-out legal process, it’s not easy to execute the eviction order. Police protection is needed, as well as government approval because of the security and political ramifications.This is where M. enters the picture. His job is to persuade the Palestinians to move out “in a good way.” The first on his list are the extended Palestinian families in a narrow street between Beit Yonatan and the big building that was taken over in late August.Every family has to deal with M., either as the plaintiff demanding their evacuation or the buyer offering generous compensation if they leave voluntarily. Or he’s the one who threatens dire consequences if they refuse. He typically uses all three approaches together.The fruit of M.’s labors have ripened of late. A few months ago, settlers moved into another house after the residents, already facing an eviction order, signed an agreement to leave voluntarily. They received 3.2 million shekels ($830,000) in compensation.Later, Ateret Cohanim took possession of a large building of more than 10 apartments after paying 2 million shekels to a member of the family that owned the property. In exchange, the family would move out.Other members of the family are engaged in a legal battle, contending that their relative was not the owner of the building and had no right to transfer it to Jewish ownership. And again, there was the recent departure of the Abu Nab family.The remaining families are fighting a rearguard action against M. and Ateret Cohanim. The NGO plans to demand the removal of dozens more Palestinian families in the area classified as within the hekdesh.M.’s greatest achievement was acquiring the building with more than 10 apartments, letting Ateret Cohanim double the number of Jewish families in the neighborhood. (There is a court-imposed gag order on the exact location of the building and the names of the owners.)Several dozen young Jews occupied the building in the dead of night, but not before a Silwan notable walked away with 2 million shekels. He has not been seen in the neighborhood since, and Haaretz was unable to locate him.Attorney Avraham Moshe Segal, responding for Ateret Cohanim, quoted Justice Amit’s order that prevented the publication of details of the people involved in the transactions, or of anyone acting on their behalf. He said he thus could not comment on specifics.“In general, it may be said that after a long legal battle, both in district court and at the Supreme Court, justice has prevailed. [The courts] have determined unequivocally that my clients are the sole owners of many properties in Silwan ... already owned by them in the 19th century. And those who have trespassed on those properties are required to vacate them and return them to my clients,” he said.“Despite the unequivocal decisions by the various courts, particularly the Supreme Court, my clients offer the trespassers and their families, within and beyond the letter of the law, an opportunity to vacate the properties of their own volition, and receive monetary compensation. Instead of recognizing my clients’ humanitarian and chivalrous conduct, various bodies with their own vested interests have brought false accusations against my clients.”Meanwhile, regarding the heavy police presence for the eviction of the Abu Nab family, a spokesman for the Jerusalem district said “the police assigned an escort for the executors of the eviction order. It was not a large force, and the eviction was carried out without problems.”
Nir HassonHaaretz Correspondentread more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.683416