Israel Matzav

Heroes' homes to be razed?

The good news is that the town of Eli is finally going to get a real zoning plan and is going to become completely legal. The bad news is that the homes of the families of IDF heroes Roi Klein HY"D (may God avenge his blood) and Eliraz Peretz HY"D may not be included because aerial photos from 40 years ago (!) show unidentified Arabs cultivating the land on which those homes are located.

Mayor Eliraz says that there is no justification for leaving these homes out of the authorization process. “Just because there are some aerial photos from 40 years ago indicating that the land [on which the six homes were built] was being worked is no reason to destroy the homes now. For one thing, no one is claiming ownership over the land! Secondly, when Eli was built, no one was working this land!”

These points were researched and brought to the court's attention by the legal advisor to the Samarian Regional Council, who pointed out that despite concerted efforts by left-wing groups to find claimants, no Arab has stepped forward to claim the land. This, he said, makes it highly likely that the cultivation 40 years ago was done by usurpers and not owners and should therefore be considered ownerless by default. Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch responded that any land in Judea and Samaria that was once cultivated, no matter how long ago and no matter if unclaimed, must be Arab by default.

ayor Eliraz brought out a third, more basic point - namely, that the homes need not be razed under any circumstances: "If someone ever comes forward and proves ownership, there are many acceptable ways of compensating him – with no need to destroy the homes. Can you imagine if someone would come with a photo showing that his grandfather’s grandfather worked the land on which the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv now stand – would they destroy the building? Of course not. They would simply pay fair compensation.”

Since no Arab has come forward to claim the land and demand that the homes be razed, the radical-left Peace Now organization has done so instead, bringing the matter to the Supreme Court. The court is to issue its ruling in the near future, in which it will weigh the State’s declaration of intent to legalize and authorize the homes and the entire town with Peace Now’s claim that the homes were built without authorization.

Is there any other country in the Western world where this sort of thing would not be covered by eminent domain? Absurd. Totally absurd.

Labels: Eliraz Peretz, eminent domain, HaYovel neighborhood of Eli, Roi Klein

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:54 PM