The Daily Tar Heel
URL: http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2011/11/the_jnf_troubles_in_east_jerusalem
Current Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 08:22:46 -0400
The JNF troubles in East Jerusalem
| 
Tools
Possibly Related
- Everything in moderation: Have a better outlook this swimsuit season MAY 22
- The things that counted MAY 22
- A lack of transparency: Administrative silence sends a loud, negative message. MAY 21
- Pitching depth vital as UNC looks to make postseason run MAY 20
- A man without a party: To compete in the fall, Democrats must force David Parker out MAY 16
In just more than a month, thousands of Jewish students from across the country, including 16 from UNC, will depart on winter Birthright trips to Israel. On their 10-day visit, these young people will discover a remarkable land, a remarkable history and a remarkable people.
This year, as in years past, some Birthright trips will visit the “City of David,” a major archaeological and historical site in East Jerusalem, just beyond the walls of the Old City. The City of David is likely the original site of King David’s remarkable political center.
It is also one of the most politically problematic of Israel’s tourist sites. It is owned by Elad, an organization dedicated not only to managing the site but to purchasing land in the abutting Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan for the purpose of moving in Jewish residents.
It is generally understood that a workable political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will involve dividing Jerusalem in two: between its Jewish neighborhoods and its Palestinian neighborhoods. Elad is seeking to move Jews into a Palestinian neighborhood, making it more difficult to deem it either Jewish or Palestinian. Elad’s actions undermine a two-state solution.
Most Birthright trips — including UNC’s trip this year — do not visit the City of David. But some do, and thus unknowingly fund Elad’s political agenda.
Just this week, the cost of this agenda was given a very human face.
On Monday, a Palestinian family — the Sumarins — was scheduled to be evicted from its home in Silwan. The Sumarin home is directly next to the City of David’s archaeological dig, making their land a prime target for Elad.
Several years ago, the Jerusalem municipality seized legal control of their home by invoking Israel’s Absentees’ Property Law. The eviction action against the Sumarin family has been brought to court by Himnuta, an organization that plans to pass on the land to Elad.
However, one of the most important Jewish organizations in the world, the Jewish National Fund, owns 100 percent of Himnuta’s shares. Initially, the JNF denied any responsibility for the eviction order. They have a long-standing policy of not conducting operations across the “Green Line” — the borders of Israel prior to 1967, across which the City of David is located. But their decision of the last week — under pressure from prominent Israeli human rights groups — to temporarily postpone the eviction suggests that they are indeed responsible for Himnuta’s actions.
I grew up, like many other Jewish children, placing weekly “tzedakah,” or charity, in the blue boxes of the JNF. For generations, the JNF has been a major avenue by which Jews around the world have supported the growth of Israel as a Jewish homeland. Without the JNF, Israel would not be what it is today.
But events from this week challenge this standing. Neither the JNF nor Birthright should have anything to do with these actions. Their consequences reverberate not only within the walls of one Palestinian home, but across a generation of American Jews struggling to connect to our homeland in a way in which we can be proud.
Online Poll:
Do you think fracking can be done safely?
8 comments
JNF and Elad are not the villains here. Know the facts before you print! Muhammed Sumarin has been living in stolen property for less than thirty years, property which he seized illegally using forged documents. This forgery was proven by witnesses who came forward during a police investigation and by the Criminal Forgery Center. It is time to pull the cover off this charade and understand that this is a premeditated criminal scheme to illegally seize control of property which does not belong to them. At the same time, the Sumarins are trying to manipulate the international community by saying that they will be left in the streets, while they are deliberately hiding the fact that they own a beautiful two story building down the street.
Whatever Himnuta decides to do with their property is up to them, however the Sumarin’s criminal activities here, which have been proven in court cannot simply be swept under the rug. Not every person that is evicted from their home is a victim as is proven in the case of the Sumarin’s. They are in fact the villain of this story.
Background information:
• During the legal proceedings over the home the Sumarin’s presented forged documents to try and obtain rights to this property and other properties that do not belong to them.
• The forgery was discovered during a police investigation in which witnesses came forward and testified to the forgery and also and during the court proceedings from the criminal forgery center.
• Despite the decision of the courts, the Sumarins continue to squat on this property, showing a complete disregard for the legal system. This is not surprising since it was this very legal system which they tried to manipulate in order to try and seize land that is not theirs.
• The Sumarins are trying to manipulate the local community and the international community by putting on a charade by playing the role of the victim when in fact they are the true villain.
• The facts are that they illegally seized a property, used forged documents to try and deceive the courts, and are now refusing to leave a property which they never owned in the first place.
@Mark Davidson
You mind providing sources for this data?
Mark-
Two quick questions—
1. Who exactly did the Sumarins originally “steal the property” from? The Jewish people who have owned all of the land of Israel since forever and always?
2. Who was it that built the house that the Sumarins are living in, before the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967? (Clue: it was the Sumarins)
There may have been mistakes made in the Sumarin family’s handling of the case, but to call them criminals is frankly obscene- as Dr. King taught, to disobey an unjust law is to disobey no law at all. They are living under military occupation, and control of their family’s house was cynically wrested from them through shady dealings concerning the Absentee Property Law (a law that the Israeli gov’t admitted, in 1995, was wrong to use in East Jerusalem), Himanutah, JNF’s shadowy subsidiary that carries out purchase missions over the green line so that the JNF doesn’t have to look like a settler organization that is exacerbating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the radical settler organization ELAD whose explicit goal is to Judaize (read: De-Arabize) Silwan and East Jerusalem.
So who is “the villain”- a family who might have made a mistake in their handling of a legal process in the occupying power’s court system, or those who support the actions of groups whose central goals are achieving ethnic purity in one of the most sensitive points in the entire region?
I’m confident you’ll find some way to dodge my questions (ie. Did or did not the Sumarin family build the house that they are now living in? Yes or no answer. Please answer), as is the wont of right-wing propagandists, so let’s leave the “rightness” of our arguments up to other readers to decide.
Just a few facts that beg clarificationi:
1. Elad does not ‘own’ the City of David National Park,, but administers it for the Israeli government.
2. There is actually a Jewish majority in the City of David neighborhood where over 70 Jewish families live.
3. Anybody with even the most rudimentary understanding of Israeli and Jerusalem politics will know that dividing Jerusalem is the worst possible solution for both the international community and Israel and will bring war and devestation to the area. The only reason the Palestinians want Jerusalem is because it is part of their plan in destroying Israel – what better way than getting at the heart.
@word: Excellent question, I was wondering the same myself.
@Moriel Rothman: Thanks for your informed reply, I was hoping someone with more knowledge than I would address the claims made above.
I’ve found the writings and other work of Chomsky to be helpful in examining the conflict, as he bases his claims on international law and accessible documents. My knowledge is by no means complete, but I’m skeptical of anyone who throws out lots of information for one side or another without sources and with a clear stake or agenda in the issue.
And I’m skeptical of people like Chomsky who are a-okay with millions of Russian and Chinese deaths because he’s fond of the bankrupt Communist ideology. And, yes, those numbers come from accessible and irrefutable sources.
Also, you question Mark’s sources, but not Moriel’s? Very open-minded of you.
Well… I don’t really know where to begin here, I mean Chomsky is an anarchist so there’s that. Anarchy and state communism are complete opposites.
As to him being a-okay with Russian and Chinese deaths.. do you have sources for that? I definitely have not read anything where he espouses those opinions, but rather the opposite. He is strongly against the Chinese pseudo-Communist state-capitalist system (just like all other capitalist nations are, by the way, state capitalism in reality).
But we could really be going down a long haul of argument there. Finally, I never said that I don’t question Moriel’s sources. Only that I question sources from anyone who jumps on the comment with such a fierce attack (albeit a very clear one) but does not give any sources for the extensive information.
“Yes, those numbers come from accessible and irrefutable sources.”
Try using that argument in a thesis or dissertation defense.
Join the discussion
You Should Know
The Daily Tar Heel reserves the right to remove any comment deemed racially derogatory, inflammatory, or spammatory. Repeat offenders may have their IP address banned from posting future comments. Please be nice.
If this is the first time you've commented, your comment won't appear until you've verified your email address.
Formatting Options:
- Links: "my link":http://my.url.com
- Bold: *something!*
- Italic: _OMG!_
Serving UNC students and the community since 1893
© 2012 DTH Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
Flag this comment