Israeli soldiers use force to break up a protest against the discriminatory use policies of Israel regarding Route 443, which prohibits travel on this road by Palestinians (photo by Oren Ziv of Activestills.org)
The
meaning of the (Israeli) High Court decision regarding the petition of the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel in the matter of Route 443, which
prohibits travel on this road by Palestinians: for the first time in its
history, the Israeli High Court gave a decision that provides approval for
separate roads for Palestinians and Israelis, with no security need and in
blatant violation of the laws of occupation.
On 5 March
2008, the (Israeli) High Court held a hearing of the petition submitted by the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) against the Minister of Defence,
the Central Military Commander and Commander of the Binyamin Division, in the wake
of the demand to annul the prohibition placed on Palestinians from traveling on
Route 443. The petition was submitted by ACRI Attorney Lee in March 2007, on
behalf of residents of the six Palestinian villages adjacent to Route 443,
whose daily life has been badly affected by this prohibition of travel, which
is the primary and sole road in their area. The petitioners are only a small
part of the entire Palestinian population badly affected by the closing of this
road to them.
The
petition was heard by President of the Israeli High Court, Dorit Beinish and
Judges Edmund Levy and Uzi Fogelman. At the conclusion of the hearing, the
court gave an interim decision that the Respondents must update the court
within six months on progress in paving the “fabric of life” road. This
decision essentially provides a green light to the military to pave separate
roads for Palestinians, which means—unprecedented provision by the High Court
for polices of separation and discrimination in movement, a policy that has
already been dubbed “apartheid.” If the judges had indeed intended, as they
are obligated to do, to seriously weigh the legal argument raised by the
petition, there would have been no reason to approve the continued paving of
the “fabric of life” road, which entails the additional confiscation and
destruction of land and costs of tens of millions of shekels. For the first
time in its history, the Israeli High Court gave a decision that provides
approval for separate roads for Palestinians and Israelis, with no security
need and in blatant violation of the laws of occupation. It should be recalled
that this is not a decision given in the interim stages of litigation, but only
after both sides rested.
Route 443
was paved on lands confiscated from Palestinian residents, maintaining that it
was required for the transportation needs of the Palestinians in the West Bank. The road did indeed serve the Palestinians for
a period of time, but from 2000 began a gradual process of transforming the
road into one for Israelis only. This is in total contradiction to
international law, which permits land confiscation only for the needs of the
local population or for protecting the forces of the occupier.
In a
hearing of the petition, ACRI attorneys Limor Yehuda and Dan Yakir noted that
Route 443 primarily serves the residents of Israel in connecting between
Jerusalem and the coastal region, the goal of which is the comfort of the these
drivers, and has no connection to security needs. With the approval provided by
the military commander for improper use of private lands confiscated from the
Palestinian residents, he deviated from his legal authority both under Israeli
law and international law. With the approval given by the judges to the
commander for paving bypass roads for the Palestinians, for the first time in
its history they are approving a policy of separation on the basis of group
belonging, through discrimination against the protected residents of the
occupied territory.
ACRI
expresses deep concern about the decision of the Israeli High Court judges, not
only because of its content, which as noted means approving an illegal and
immoral policy that is most dangerous, in a manner that could be a precedent
for approving additional expansive and grave violations of human rights, if
only because of the renunciation of any appropriate judicial process: even
though this is a substantive decision, it was given without any reasons and by
completely ignoring the primary arguments raised by the petitioners. In this,
the decision violates the right of the petitioners to receive a ruling in their
case, and to receive a detailed response by the court to the question of
whether the actions of the respondents today, and not in some future time, are
or are not legal.
ACRI
further emphasizes that the fabric of life road, that is intended to provide an
alternative for the Palestinian residents of the region, leaves hundreds of
thousands of residents in the area without appropriate answers for their
transportation needs.
(Originally
published in Hebrew by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel , translated to English by the Alternative Information Center).
|
