Thursday, 22 September 2011


WINSTON MID EAST ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY September 21, 2011 Email: winston@winstonglobal.org Please disseminate & re-post. If you publish, send us a copy. Many of our articles appear in www.freeman.org; JewishIndy.com;gamla.org.il/English. Outgoing mail is virus-checked.

The Beinish-Netanyahu Crisis


Forwarded with commentary by Gail Winston,


Freeman Center Mid East Analyst & Commentator

Any threat to the settlers is a direct threat to all Israelis in Israel and to all Jews everywhere in the world.

COMMENTARY BY GAIL WINSTON

Yet another painful and frustrating crisis has just occurred, so we need your help again.

Just a few days ago, Dorit Beinish, considered one of the most leftwing judges in Israel's strongly politicized Supreme Court, issued a new anti-settler edict. The edict, a portion of which can be seen here: http://www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/226020, says that ALL land in Judea and Samaria, except for so-called "state land", will be considered "privately owned Palestinian land" from now on.

Unbelievably to many of us, this is going to be the case even if there is no actual Palestinian who owns the land. The reason for this ruling is very simple: Beinish is trying to take full advantage of an earlier statement on the part of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Some months ago, Netanyahu hastily told a roomful of anti-settler legal advisors that it was alright with him for all homes on "privately owned" Palestinian land to be razed. Of course, to his credit, Netanyahu probably was not thinking at the time about what Israel's anti-settler legal authorities, like Beinish, could do with this. But now, it is necessary to immediately persuade Netanyahu to change that statement which he is of course fully entitled to do.

Otherwise, dozens and later on hundreds of settler families could find themselves branded as thieves of "privately owned Palestinian land". No Israel-basher will remember or even know that this is an artificially created Beinish category and no-one will think to ask whether there is an actual Palestinian owner! This happened to 3 families in Migron (a settlement in Binyamin Regional Council) just a week ago; they were turned out of their homes in the middle of the night with their children in their pajamas, including a 2-week old baby. This was covered by the Jerusalem Post here:http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?ID=236743&R=R1 and was filmed by Shoshi Greenfeld here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYtfZ07Fh4U

Please can you forward this email straight to Israel's ministers whose email addresses are listed below. They can and must immediately remind Netanyahu that there are so many more reasonable legal solutions that Netanyahu can switch to, to cope with this highly politicized situation - compensation instead of house-razing, demanding that an actual Palestinian owner be identified, and so forth. If you have writing skills, feel very free to add a few personal words of your own!!

sar@moch.gov.il; roeil@moin.gov.il; minister@most.gov.il; ministerts@most.gov.il;sar@tourism.gov.il; sar@mfa.gov.il; sar@mof.gov.il; sar@mot.gov.il; sar@mops.gov.il;yedelstein@knesset.gov.il; gerdan@knesset.gov.il;bbegin@knesset.gov.il; myaalon@knesset.gov.il;mcachlon@knesset.gov.il; yiskatz@knesset.gov.il; gsaar@knesset.gov.il;ypeled@knesset.gov.il;ysteinitz@knesset.gov.il; iaharon@knesset.gov.il;aliberman@knesset.gov.il;ulandau@KNESSET.GOV.IL; slandver@knesset.gov.il;smiseznikov@knesset.gov.il; dhershkovitz@KNESSET.GOV.IL; mnahari@knesset.gov.il;aatias@knesset.gov.il; ymargi@knesset.gov.il; yakovm@dat.gov.il; sar@sviva.gov.il;Sar@justice.gov.il; sar@moc.gov.il;sar@moia.gov.il;sar@environment.gov.il;sar@mni.gov.il;lishkat_sar@education.gov.il;hilap@pmo.gov.il;sar@moin.gov.il;pniot@mni.gov.il;info@ng.pmo.gov.il

Please also pass this email on to others. It is important for ministers to get many requests and to feel obliged to take fast action. Thank you very much indeed.