The extra-judicial killing of Sheikh Yassin on Monday has been overshadowing the week since, at least in the press. The importance and the ramifications of that assassination more than justifies the scrutiny and debate it has triggered, and it is a good sign that it has not been dismissed as quickly as Israeli officials might have liked.
The typical quest for sensational news by the press should not however succeed in overlooking other important, though less sensational, news, such as the trial of the Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights, Rabbi Arik Ascherman.
Rabbi Ascherman, who is on trial in Jerusalem for trying to prevent the demolition of two Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem, appeared together with two other codefendants for their second session this Wednesday.
The protest, which the rabbi calls an act of civil disobedience over an `unjust and immoral Israeli policy,' could result in a three year jail sentence.
Rabbi Ascherman reported that at the scene of one demolition, “the families were hysterical. The grandmother was wailing while the father of the family was clutching at his heart and others were begging us to do something. It was simply heartbreaking… we watched helplessly as the pneumatic drills tore into the home. To officer after officer I read off chapter and verse from the various international conventions which Israel is a party to. Commanders ordered their people not to listen or take the paper.” The two demolitions that took place left two large extended families homeless within a matter of minutes.
The 100 or so members of Rabbis for Human Rights try to promote human rights from a Jewish religious perspective. They are chiefly engaged in non-violent protest against home demolitions and the rebuilding of demolished homes, the provision of humanitarian aid to besieged Palestinian villagers, and the mobilization of rabbis and supporters in Israel and around the world to petition Israeli officials regarding human rights abuses.
The rabbis also help bring human rights issues to the Israeli Supreme Court. This time, however, their zealous efforts to defend people’s basic right to a home has made them the subject of Israeli court proceedings.
The presiding judge rejected the defendants’ defense that protesting home demolitions is legitimate given that the policy of home demolition is an unjust and discriminatory policy, which prevents Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem, who cannot attain permits, from building homes legally.
While the rabbis’ actions might be technically illegal according to the narrow interpretations of Israeli law, the effective Israeli policy is certainly illegal according to international law, not to mention unjust.
The Israeli Or Commission clearly concluded that it is not possible to understand the policy of so called “illegal” building and demolitions outside the context of the discriminatory land policies directed against both Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.
It should be noted that the homes that were demolished were not demolished for any security reasons, as none of the people in these homes engaged in activities defined as illegal by Israel.
B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, reports that since 1987, literally thousands of homes have been built for Jews in these same areas, many receiving permits retroactively. Since 1987, 2,500 Palestinian homes in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem have been demolished for administrative reasons leaving more than 16,000 Palestinians homeless.
Since 1987, the Israeli authorities have "administratively" demolished at least 2,500 Palestinian homes in the West Bank (including east Jerusalem), and hundreds of other structures.
However, none of these points seem to have made an impression on the judge and the next hearing scheduled on September 14th, 2004, will unlikely see a turn in the judiciary’ s common evasion of examining the core of the matter.
As Israeli courts seem unwilling to tackle the core issue, the burden falls even stronger on the Israeli society to examine the human and moral implications of such a home demolition policy. The quiescence to this and other similar policies will inevitably lead to the destruction of the society behind them.
Rabbis for Human Rights
http://www.rhr.israel.net
Rabbis for Human Rights – North America
http://www.rhr-na.org
Court Refuses to Take a Stand on Home Demolitions
Date posted: March 24, 2004
By Rabbis for Human Rights
PRESS RELEASE
This morning, Wednesday, March 24, 2004, Judge Rivka Feldman of the Magistrates Court in Jerusalem rejected the claim of “defense of justice” at the trial of the three defendants: Rabbi Arik Ascherman – Executive Director of “Rabbis for Human Rights”, Shai Eliezer and Omer Ori, accused of opposing home demolitions.
Rabbi Arik Ascherman responded to the Judge’s decision saying: “We are very disappointed with the decision handed down at this, the beginning of the month of Nissan in which we celebrate the exodus from Egyptian injustice. It saddens us to find out that we have a court of law, but not a court of justice at a time we should especially be sensitive to the situation of the stranger who lives among us: “because strangers you were in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19: 33-32).
Rabbi Ascherman said that more than 30 “administrative” home demolitions have taken place in Jerusalem since the beginning of the calendar year. The Or committee has already criticized the policy of home demolitions and has stated that the Israeli government limits the possibility of Arab citizens (and even more so of Palestinians) to build legally. There needs to be legal implementation of this finding, in order to immediately stop this injustice immediately which affects so many lives. It appears that the judge did not take into account the full meaning of the concept of civil disobedience. We intend to continue our struggle to persuade the court to acknowledge the real injustice of the policy of home demolitions. The whole world is watching this trial and we do not intend to lose”.
Present at the court this morning were Sufian Maswadeh, whose home the defendants were trying to protect when arrested, Jacob Picheny, a representative of Rabbis for Human Rights supporters in North America, rabbis and activists. As at the first cession, an overflow crowd was forced to wait outside the courtroom.
For more details:
Rabbi Arik Ascherman 050-607034, 02-563-7731
Shai Eliezer 02-671-7570
Omer Ori 03-6291421
Adv. Leah Tzemel 052-601602, 02-627-3373
Documents submitted to the court include:
1) Court Decision/Minutes
2) Expert testimony of planning expert Nati Maron on behalf of “Bimkom” and
“ACRI”
3) Excerpts from the Or Commission Findings (English)
4) Expert testimony of planning expert Ayala Ronnel
5) Reports by B’Tselem (English), Ir Shalem, Urban Planner Sara
Kaminiker(English)
6) Reports of Jerusalem Comptroller
7) Insider testimony of former Jerusalem Arab affairs advisor Amir Cheshin
(English and Hebrew)
8) Testimonies of owners of the two demolished homes
9) Testimony of anonymous owner of demolished homes regarding offers to save
his home in return for bribe or agreement to be an informer.
10) Testimony of Isawiyah Local Council Head Darwish Darwish
11) Rabbinic Opinion signed by RHR members
12) Rabbinic Support Letter signed by over 400 Diaspora Rabbis. (English)
13) Amicus Curiae Brief of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions
(COHRE), the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and JCHR (Jerusalem Centre for
Human Rights (English) and additional documents co written with the
International Council of Jurists (English)
14) Affadavit of former Jerusalem City Council member Meir Margalit
15) Affadavit of the coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House
Demolitions Professor Jeff Halper
Rabbis For Human Rights
42 Aza St. Jerusalem, 92384, Israel
Tel: 972-2-563-7731
Fax: 972-2-566-2815
Mobile: 972-50607034
info@rhr.israel.net
Website: www.rhr.israel.net
400 Rabbis Publicly Oppose Home Demolitions in Israel
Date posted: March 14, 2004
By Rabbis for Human Rights/North America
MARCH 14, 2004 PRESS RELEASE
400 RABBIS PUBLICLY OPPOSE HOME DEMOLITIONS IN ISRAEL
An unprecedented open letter to Prime Minister Sharon against the Israeli policy of administrative home demolition, signed by 400 Rabbis from across the United States and Europe, will appear as a full-page ad in several Jewish newspapers on Friday March 19. In their ad the rabbis express their support, as Zionists and long time supporters of Israel, for Rabbis for Human Rights, a multi-denominational rabbinic organization in Israel that has opposed home demolition policy since 1997. The rabbis write, "even when our beloved state is under frequent murderous attack by enemies, it is essential to Israel's physical and moral survival that we live up to the central ethical teachings of our heritage."
The ad will appear in the Forward, the New York Jewish Week and possibly in an Israeli newspaper, a few days before the next court hearing in the trial of Rabbi Arik Ascherman, executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, who is on trial in Jerusalem for attempting to prevent the demolition of two Palestinian homes. The rabbis express their solidarity with the actions of Rabbi Ascherman to protect the human rights of Israelis and Palestinians and to uphold the Zionist vision of a "Jewish state that exemplifies the values of justice and compassion."
The signers of the ad include rabbis of all the movements, many prominent rabbis who teach in rabbinical seminaries, leaders of national Jewish organizations, congregational rabbis and rabbis who work in many diverse educational settings and as chaplains. This is the first time that such a large group of rabbis, long time supporters of Israel, have taken a public stand in support of their colleagues in Israel and against the home demolition policy.
Rabbi Gerald Serotta, Chair of Rabbis for Human Rights North America which organized the rabbi's letter, said, "the home that Rabbi Ascherman was trying to protect were not demolished for any security reason. None of the people in these homes engaged in violence or harboring terrorists. They were demolished because of a violation of zoning regulations in the context where it is almost impossible for Palestinian families in those parts of the West Bank under Israeli civilian control or in Jerusalem to legally obtain building permits."
The signers urged the government of Israel to rescind its policy of home demolitions and exonerate Rabbi Ascherman.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Rabbi Brian Walt, executive director, Rabbis for Human Rights North America Phone: (508) 696-1880 Email: brianwalt@rhr-na.org
Rabbi Gerry Serotta, chair, Rabbis for Human Rights North America Phone (301) 587-2273 Email: rabbiger@gwu.edu
Rabbi Arik Ascherman, executive director, Rabbis for Human Rights Israel Phone 011-972-50-607034 Email: ravarik@actcom.net.il
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