High Court to rule on Arab claims over Eitam Hill in Judea
On Monday, the High Court of Justice was scheduled to hear a petition submitted by the far-left NGO Peace Now, arguing that Israel’s land allocation policy in Judea and Samaria is discriminatory. The petition focuses on Givat Eitam (Eitam Hills) in the city of Efrat in Judea. Referred to as the “E2 project”, 7,000 apartment units are planned to be built on the 306-acre plot of land, doubling the population of Efrat which now has about 11,500 residents.
Peace Now claims to be filing the petition on behalf of more than a dozen Arab residents of Bethlehem. In the petition, Peace Now is demanding land allocation for Palestinian construction in the area in which Efrat’s Givat Eitam neighborhood is planned to be built. Unlike many of its other claims brought against construction by Jews, this petition does not state previous ownership by Arabs as Givat Eitam is state land. The petition rather argues that Israeli construction will infringe on future construction by Arabs. It claims that Israel’s policy of land allocation discriminates against Palestinians.
“The decision to allocate the A-Nakhla lands for the purpose of expanding the Efrat settlement is illegal, immoral, and immeasurable in a way that screams to the heavens,” said Peace Now.
“The implementation of this plan will severely harm not only the Palestinian landowners and the ability to develop the Bethlehem area, but also the ability to reach a future peace agreement and territorial succession for a future Palestinian state,” it further said. “This decision should be removed from the world and the land should be allocated for Palestinian development in the area. We will fight so that the High Court judges do justice.”
Regavim, an NGO that monitors illegal construction in Judea and Samaria, emphasized that the land in question is defined in Oslo Accords as Area C and is therefore intended for settlement by Israelis.
Despite the agreement signed with the Palestinian Authority in 1993, Palestinians and groups such as Peace Now claim that Area C should be part of the final borders of a Palestinian state.
Avraham Binyamin, Director of Regavim’s Policy and Parliamentary Affairs Division reacted strongly to the petition.
“This petition is simply ludicrous. It ignores the reality on the ground – a reality in which Areas A and B, 40% of Judea and Samaria, are under full Palestinian Authority jurisdiction – but some 70% of the land in those areas is completely undeveloped, and remains available for Palestinian construction,” Binyamin said. “There is absolutely no justification for allocating even one centimeter of land in Area C for Palestinian use – particularly since this area is already suffering from an intensive program of illegal annexation by the PA.”
Binyamin noted that there is no corresponding Israeli construction in Areas A and B which, according to the Oslo Accords, is under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction.
“We might well imagine what would happen if Israelis demanded that the Palestinian Authority allocate land for Jewish construction,” he said. “The claim of discriminatory land allocation policy is absolutely ridiculous.”Efrat was established in 1983 about 7 miles south of Jerusalem. It is mentioned in the Bible several times, most notably in connection with Ruth collecting gleanings from the field of Boaz (Ruth 4:11).
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