Shaked proposes alternative tribunal for West Bank land disputes

Shaked suggests that a lower court should determine ownership in land dispute cases.

Sima Kadmon, YNET

Shaked1Following the demolition of the houses in the West Bank settlement of Beit El, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called to transfer hearings on land disputes in the West Bank to another tribunal other than the High Court of Justice.

Shaked told Yedioth Ahronoth that “the root of the problem is the fact that all the rulings regarding land disputes in the West Bank are handed down by the High Court and not regular courts.” Wednesday, MK Moti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi), said that “a Caterpillar D- 9’s bulldozer blade should be raised against the High Court”.

“The whole system is distorted,” Shaked said after the demolition of the houses at Beit El, and before the evacuation of settlers barricaded in the former West Bank settlement of Sa-Nur, completed at 7am Thursday.

She added that two lawyers are using the High Court to implement a far-left agenda, referring to Michael Sfard and Shlomi Zecharia, lawyers for Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group providing legal assistance to citizens of the Palestinian territories.

Shaked said that some High Court rulings are reasonable and others go too far, but she failed to provide examples for each type of ruling.

She also claimed that the High Court judges all land conflicts without any evidence and without hearing testimonies. “The procedure is absurd,” she said. “This should be handled by an appropriate tribunal, which hears testimonies and reviews the presentation of evidence. We will in fact try to establish such a tribunal. Already during the previous government we started setting up a tribunal for settling land disputes. This will be our task now as well.”

According to Shaked’s proposal, the High Court will still be able to intervene in land disputes, but only after the testimony and evidence have already been reviewed by the appropriate tribunal. “Just like land disputes in Ra’anana are dealt with by an ordinary court, the same will be done in Judea and Samaria,” she said.

This was actually one of the recommendations of the 2012 report by former High Court Justice Edmond Levy (which urged the government to legalize most settlements), a report that the right embraced. If Shaked tries to implement this section, she will find herself confronted by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, who opposes the implementation of the report, and most likely the justices of the High Court.

Shaked’s announcement of her proposal was soon followed by criticism.

“This is a step meant to limit the Supreme Court’s authority to rule on the territories,” former Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch told Ynet. “One of Israel’s advantages in the world is the fact that residents of the territories have access to the Supreme Court, and that it attempts to impose the rule of law in non-sovereign territory of Israel. In the international arena, this claim is very helpful for Israel because of the Supreme Court’s prestige. Thus many lawsuits against Israel in international tribunals are blocked.”

Former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) also criticized Shaked’s suggestion, saying the proposal was not new and had been decided against before. “If you want Judea and Samaria to be like Ra’anana, then we need to annex,” she said. “This means, of course, voting rights for all, like residents of Ra’anana have, and making Israel a country with an Arab majority.”

“But they don’t have the courage for this truth, because they understand that in the short run, Israel is cutting the line of oxygen connecting it to the United States,” said Livni.

July 31, 2015 | 6 Comments »

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6 Comments / 6 Comments

  1. Shaked is tentative and correct. The truth cuts far deeper.
    As I have presented formally to the PM’s office, President, supreme courtiers and other principals, including Ted, civilian Israeli Basic Law is not applicable to Yehudah and Shomron.
    THE KNESSET HAS NOT EXTENDED ISRAELI LAW TO JUDEA AND SAMARIA… end of story.
    Consequently, and totally.
    The courtiers, the so called attorney generals, the prime ministers and police have all criminally violated the law by issuing decrees or acting physically as results of courts decrees in those military ruled areas. ONLY military courts can act there… still bad nus.
    Every single court order issued by Israeli courtiers, police action, etc, that has been taking place there and previously in Gaza as well, have been in blatant violation of the Israeli Basic Law.
    Knowingly, with premeditation and forethought the criminals have done so and must face justice for their actions.
    EVERY SINGLE one of the “resolution”, orders, etc are in fact, null and void.

    Adn while at it.
    The Ministry of INTERNAL Security, INTERNAL SECURITY… over lording the police in all of its arms, is also crudely raping its charter and the law.

  2. So terribly flawed this entire situation. Let me count the ways:

    1. the High court is hailed as a shining example judicial authority and world class in its standards of justice yet decides conflicting real property claims without reference to any evidence or testimony – unheard of in any other democratic country!:

    2. The court asserts that lower courts are without jurisdiction to hear land disputes as Israel is not sovereign in J&S, yet it asserts jurisdiction – no contradiction there!:

    3. The Attorney General is supposed to be the lawyer for the government and is instead the lawyer dictating policy to the government;

    4. The very reason the Supreme Court is held in such high esteem worldwide is that it is anti-Israel and biased against Jews.

    5. Livni has the chutzpah to tell us that the only way justice can actually be meted out to the Jewish residents of J&S is to annex and have an Arab majority, which of course is bald faced lie and a contradiction as the Supreme Court has assumed jurisdiction and therefor Sheket’s tribunal could just as well;

    6. And finally if Israel is not in fact sovereign in J&S, just who or what is?

    But truth is a scare commodity in the Jewish State these days!

  3. The Left likes the situation where the dictatorship of the High Court can nullify Jewish land ownership in Judea and Samaria.

    The odds that Ayelet Shaked will be able to change a situation that she herself has described as “absurd” is very low, indeed.

  4. What is much worse, is that the self elected aggregate has no legal jurisdiction to issue resolutions for territory, homes, roads, farms, villages outside Israel.
    Israeli Law has NOT been extended by the Knesset to Judea and Samaria.
    They have been crudely violating State Law for decades.

  5. Shaked is correct there should be a trial court (lower court) in Y/S. However Israeli law should be applied for this to happen. This should be for more than land disputes.

    Apply Israeli law minimally to all Jewish Towns.