Concealed Intentions- JLAC-.pdf

. JLAC’s Short-Term Strategy
Legal Aid
Among JLAC’s core mandates is to facilitate access to justice for poor and marginalized individuals and communities
who are otherwise unable to combat and overcome violations of their human dignity. Through its team of qualified
lawyers (possessing Palestinian and Israeli Bar licenses), JLAC annually adopts hundreds of dwelling and living cases
and takes them before relevant courts. Among these cases are those that tackle home demolition orders issued by
the ICA against structures built in “Area C” and East Jerusalem. Such cases entail applying for building permits and
requesting necessary time extensions to achieve permit approval; attending related Israeli Higher Planning Council
meetings; aiding beneficiaries’ efforts to obtain/collect necessary documents (i.e. proof of ownership certifications);
appealing decisions in case of denial of permits (a common practice); and eventually taking cases before the Israeli
Supreme Court to obtain temporary freeze orders. Cases taken against forced evictions of Palestinian communities
(particularly Bedouin and herder communities residing in the Jordan Valley region) involve corresponding with the
Israeli Higher Planning Council’s Inspection Committee to attain the necessary time extensions and appealing orders
before the Israeli Supreme Court. To a lesser extent, JLAC also adopts cases involving land confiscation, where such
cases are taken before the Military Objections Committees (in Ofar), the Legal Advisor (in Beit El), the Reconciliations
Courts (in Jerusalem), and/or the Israeli High Court, depending upon the circumstances of the case in question.
Recently, Israeli pro-settlement organizations have been putting pressure on the ICA to carry out more home demolitions,
a measure that particularly affects Bedouin communities. Regavim, a non-governmental Israeli housing organization
(supported by a number of Israeli politicians, some of whom hold senior government positions), has raised several
petitions to the Israeli Supreme Court against the ICA for its failure to demolish ‘illegal’ Palestinian homes. This is the
same Civil Administration whom at present is already demolishing (or threatening to demolish) hundreds of Palestinian
homes in its quest to rid “Area C” of its Palestinian population while allowing for Jewish settlement expansion. In spite of
this, the Israeli Supreme Court still ruled in favor of Regavim’s petitions and ordered the ICA to respond to its demands.
In early 2010, the ICA gave its reply to the charges brought against it by Regavim, pledging to continue its practice of
home demolitions, while identifying the following order of priority:
1. Houses or agricultural facilities built on lands classified as “state lands.”
2. Houses or agricultural facilities in proximity to settlements, the Annexation Wall, or security zones as classified
by the ICA.
3. Houses or agricultural facilities within Palestinian communities located in “Area C”.
The abovementioned priorities serve to affect Bedouin communities proportionally the most in terms of eventual
demolition and displacement because the Bedouins in “Area C” predominantly reside upon lands classified as “state
lands.” The ICA’s Inspection Committees heightened their activity in 2010, with hundreds of new notifications issued
and tens of demolitions carried out. Bedouin communities were particularly brutalized, as dozens of tents, livestock
facilities, and water storage tanks needed in maintaining the Bedouin social and economic life were destroyed.
In 2010, JLAC took before Israeli Courts 580 house demolition cases, 90 agricultural facilities demolition cases, 99
forced displacement cases, and 28 land confiscation cases.These figures include new cases adopted in 2010 in addition
to others pending from previous years. Each case served to secure the represented families in their homes and/or
lands. Collectively, 797 families/communities were secured from displacement, 99 of which are Bedouin families/
communities.
JLAC undertook cases for the following Bedouin communities in 2010:
Nwe’meh Community near the city of Jericho. The community is comprised of tens of families who were displaced
from Ein Gedi when it was occupied in 1948. Since then, the community has been forced to resettle in different
regions within the West Bank. In 1998, it resettled in the Nwe’meh area near the city of Jericho so as to have access
to basic services. The Nwe’meh area is disputed territory, in which the PA claims it falls within “Area B” and Israeli
Authorities argue that it is “Area A” and classified as “state lands” under Israeli jurisdiction. As a result, both the PA
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