Backgrounder: JNF Land Bill for Jews Only

Backgrounder: JNF Land Bill for Jews Only

25 December 07

Please read below for extensive media coverage on JNF Land Bill that passed its first reading in the Knesset. The next scheduled hearing is the first week in January 2008, Stay Tuned.

*Adalah's JNF Special Report:
http://www.adalah.org/eng/jnf.php

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*A BUSTAN Backgrounder on the Privatization of Development in Israel's Negev
http://bustan.org/http:/bustan.org/2006/08/a_desert_mirage.html

Ha'aretz
Last update - 09:35 27/08/2007
Bullish on development
By Anshel Pfeffer

September is going to be a big month for Cincinnati lawyer Stanley Chesley. On September 5, Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, will be at his home for a fundraising dinner, with a price tag of $2,300 per ticket, the maximum allowed by federal law. Chesley is no newcomer to the Clinton campaign - he helped raise millions for the Democrats during Bill Clinton's administration in the 1990s, and this March the former president was at Chesley's home raising $400,000 for his wife's campaign.

Ten day's after the Hillary event, Chesley will be in New York for the Jewish National Fund's annual conference, where he will be inaugurated as the organization's new president. And he won't be a stranger to this new job either, having been a member of the JNF's national boards for many years. He has also served on the boards of a host of other Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Israel Bonds, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the American Jewish Committee, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Hebrew Union College, where he serves as national secretary. His law firm - Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley - represented the World Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Restitution Organization in Holocaust litigation in a series of cases involving Swiss and Austrian banks, the Hungarian Gold Train case and German payments for slave labor.

Chesley is best known in the U.S. for this kind of multiparty litigation, having made his fame and fortune over the last 30 years in high-profile injury, corporate and antitrust legal actions, both in the U.S. and internationally. Over the years, these cases have made Chesley many allies, and not surprisingly, a fair share of critics. He also has a reputation for tough-talking bullishness. This bullishness was well in evidence last week when Chesley met Haaretz for a pre-inauguration interview in Jerusalem.

The JNF, or more specifically, its Israeli branch, the Keren Kayemet LeIsrael (KKL), is currently involved in two contentious issues. The first of them concerns building new settlements in the North and especially in the Negev. With the Jewish Agency out of the settlement business, and local environmentalists strongly opposed to building new villages and towns, the emphasis within the planning agencies has moved to strengthening existing settlements, urban areas, development towns, kibbutzim and moshavim, and away from adding new names to the map. This leaves the JNF as the only main Zionist organization still actively boosting new settlement.

The second issue is the recent law that passed its first reading in the Knesset on July 18, stating that all lands under KKL ownership in Israel will continue to be allocated only to Jews. This legislation runs counter to the Supreme Court ruling that also allowed non-Jewish residents to purchase homes in projects built on KKL lands.

Chesley seems unfazed by these challenges facing his organization - in fact he is totally gung-ho about the JNF's plans to invest $600 million in new settlement activity in the Negev and the Galilee.

The environmentalists now seem to have the upper hand in the courts and the planning agencies and they are opposed to building new settlements. Don't you think the JNF should be rethinking its policy?

Chesley: "Look, being an environmentalist is great but if you live in the center of Israel - I've got news - Tel Aviv is getting a little crowded. The Negev is the natural place for new settlement. How can anyone say we shouldn't be building new settlements when you've got 60 percent of Israel's land, the Negev, just waiting?"

The counter-argument to that is that there are so many things that have to be done to improve life in the existing settlements, including the development towns in the Negev, that building new settlements just isn't the main priority anymore.

"We are also taking care of existing places. Just look at our Be'er Sheva River Walk program - we're going to have the river flowing through the city again, and we're building a new park and an artificial lake there."

Still, the "green" organizations insist that building new settlements will tamper with the area's fragile ecosystem.

"We have also become a green organization. We're committed to zero carbon emissions and we're building 'green,' environmentally friendly homes. We're not going to stop building and developing the land because of the greens. All I'm saying is that we can use the land beautifully, it doesn't have to be against the environment. Just look at the advances Israeli technology has made in sprinkler irrigation and in reclaiming brackish water. It's the kind of technology that is now being exported to the U.S. What we have to remember though is that the government is the only organization that can make policy decisions, while we're here to give all the help necessary. That's our unique mission, to help settle the land."

Until the government decides how it wants to proceed, the JNF is working with private organizations like the Or National Missions movement that is building new communities and strengthening existing ones in the Negev and the Galilee.

The JNF has recently been in the headlines over the new law allowing only Jews to use KKL land. What's your take on that?

"This is a Jewish state and our priorities have to be accordingly. Let's not forget that no one took care of the Palestinians more than Israel did. But that's just my personal view, irrespective of the politics of the matter and the Supreme Court cases. But all this just shows that Israel is a democracy that works, and I respect a democracy."

You don't think that the funds the JNF pours into Israel also give you a say when it comes to Israeli policy?

"I take the position that Israel has done more for the Diaspora than the Diaspora has done for Israel - just by coming from the ovens of the Holocaust and building such a wonderfully vibrant country in 60 years. It took the U.S. much longer than that to achieve as much."

But it's not just an issue of who gets to use the land. There is also the question of what to do with the unauthorized Bedouin settlements already existing in the Negev and growing all the time.

"There might be a lot we don't like about the Bedouin settlement practices in the Negev but we work with them on other matters. For us they are also Israeli citizens, many of them serve in the Israel Defense Forces and we have a priority to help integrate them. That's why we are building employment centers for them and working to boost their education levels. When I see the statistics of 60 percent of Bedouin boys getting an education and only 10 percent of girls, I know there's a big problem there and we can help them by building new schools."

You are very active in Democratic politics and are close to Hillary Clinton. How do you think the outcome of the 2008 elections will affect U.S.-Israel ties?

"Whoever will be elected president, whether Democrat or Republican, will be supportive of Israel. And not because of AIPAC, the Jewish lobby or donations, but because they all recognize that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and it remains a democracy despite all the challenges it faces. I mean Israel's situation with its neighbors is like what it would be for us in Ohio if Kentucky was an enemy state always launching attacks against us."

Some Jewish leaders and Israeli politicians are worried about a negative impact if Barack Obama becomes president.

"I have no evidence at all of that. And don't forget that Israel has another incredible backer - Congress."

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Haaretz
Last update - 08:24 24/07/2007
Ex-minister Rubinstein: State should reclaim land given to JNF
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent

Former education minister and legal expert Amnon Rubinstein has proposed that the state reclaim all property granted to the Jewish National Fund in order to avoid passing racist legislation that would limit the use of these lands to Jews. Currently, the JNF controls 13 percent of state lands.

Rubinstein's proposal, made to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, recommends that a distinction be made between JNF lands and state lands, with the organization returning all state lands in return for being allowed to manage the properties under its control "in line with national interests." As an example of such "national interest," he proposes that JNF lands be used for housing projects for discharged soldiers.

The former minister is proposing to put an end to the current situation, in which JNF lands are managed by the Israel Lands Administration. He says that only properties acquired through Jewish Diaspora contributions should be brought under JNF control.

Rubinstein's proposal follows a bill, which passed its preliminary reading, that restricts the leasing of JNF lands to Jews. The bill is based on the argument that since the JNF lands were acquired with contributions made by the Jewish Diaspora, these constitute "private property of the Jewish people." The bill was prepared in order to bypass a Supreme Court ruling that barred the JNF from discriminating against non-Jews in its leasing of property.

The JNF is a private company established at the start of the 20th century to acquire property in Palestine for the purpose of creating a Jewish national home.

If Rubinstein's proposal is accepted, some 900,000 dunams will pass to the direct control of the JNF, while two million dunams of "lands of missing persons" - property belonging to Palestinian refugees and purchased by the JNF from the state in the 1950s - will revert to the state.

According to Rubinstein, if the bill authorizing JNF to "discriminate in favor of Jews" is passed, Israel's international standing will be seriously tarnished, and it will contradict the basic constitutional principles of the state, especially the Basic Law on Human Dignity.

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Haaretz
Last update - 23:01 30/07/2007
The JNF, backed into a corner
By Shahar Ilan

In the next few months, the Jewish National Fund directors are planning to discuss a large land-exchange deal under which the fund would transfer all its urban lands to the Israel Lands Authority (ILA) in exchange for land in open areas, dunam per dunam, as well as monetary compensation.

The JNF has been trying to avoid this deal for years, but now that it has found itself caught between the devil - the High Court of Justice - and the deep blue sea - the Knesset - its only option may be agreeing to the deal. On September 10, the High Court will begin discussing petitions to force the ILA to lease JNF lands to non-Jews as well. Petitioners include the Arab rights group Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). On the other hand, the Knesset approved in a preliminary reading a draft law that would enable the ILA to continue leasing JNF lands to Jews only.

The JNF has maintained its silence on the matter. But from its response to High Court petitions three years ago, one can conjecture what it might say. The JNF's legal adviser in Israel, attorney Meir Alfia, and attorneys from S. Horowitz and Co., wrote in bold letters: "The future of the Zionist enterprise and the fate of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel" hung in the balance. "Is 'Zionism' indeed 'racism' in Israel 2000?" the JNF representatives asked. "Have the Zionist movement and its institutions lost their appeal? Is the High Court of Justice of the Jewish state making such a declaration? These are the real questions the petitioners have brought before the venerable court."

So why doesn't the JNF begin a campaign that "Zionism is not racism," or that the JNF's lands belong to the entire Jewish people? Because of the messages it is receiving from its branches all over the world. The branch activists cannot contend with the claims that the JNF discriminates against Arabs. That is why the JNF is bowing its head and keeping mum. And that is why the JNF may agree to give up all its urban holdings to enable the High Court and the Knesset to avoid having to decide whether the campaign to redeem the land is racist. There is almost no chance they would reach a decision in the JNF's favor. The silence is for the good of the fund.

On May 17, Osnat Mandel of the Attorney General's Office sent a letter to the High Court stating, "The attorney general believes that the ILA must uphold the principle of equality and that it cannot discriminate based on nationality when acting in its capacity as director of JNF lands." This legal opinion put the JNF in a very embarrassing position.

Over the past 100 years, they became accustomed to seeing themselves as an arm of the Zionist movement. Then they suddenly found out that the attorney general, who represents the state in the High Court, had deserted them - kind of like the settlers of Gush Katif. But the JNF had not been sent to settle the land by the cabinet ministers from the extreme right, but rather by Herzl and the Fifth Zionist Congress of 1901 - and this certainly is a more significant authority.

The truth is that until 2004, Arabs could win tenders for JNF lands. The rule was that in such cases, the JNF would exchange land with the ILA, and thus the land would be leased from the ILA, not the JNF. In her statement to the High Court, Mandel claims that this was a clumsy arrangement requiring approval from the Knesset Finance Committee, and that it made things difficult. However, instead of dragging the state into a discussion on when Zionism becomes racism, it may have been easier to simplify this process. In 2004, the ILA published its first tender for JNF lands that stated explicitly that it was subject to the rules of the JNF - that is, that the land could be leased to Jews only. This tender was tantamount to an invitation to a High Court petition, and indeed they soon arrived.

The JNF says it has 2.5 million dunams of land, approximately 11 percent of the land in Israel. The fund, which does not receive state funding, claims it owns them. Some 1 million dunams were bought, plot by plot, during the British Mandate.

What hurts the JNF's claim that no one can tell it what to do with its property is the fact that about half the lands in its possession belong to absentee owners, and were sold to it by the state in 1953. The ACRI stated in its petition: "These lands are the property of the entire public, and their transfer to the JNF does not free them from coming under the purview of public law."

The JNF claimed in its response to the High Court that this was not a transfer but rather a purchase, and that the payment was used to cover security expenses. In 1953, the state and the JNF signed an agreement on the sale of 2 million dunams to the JNF. The first 1.1 million dunams - of which 98.5 percent were then defined as agricultural lands and only 1.5 percent as urban lands - were sold for 28 million lirot. The next 1.27 million - of which 99.8 percent were agricultural lands - was to be sold for 66 million lirot, but that deal was only partially upheld, and in the end the JNF bought a total of 1.25 million dunams from the state.

In its response, the JNF claimed that "the price of the land was set based on what a committee of experts determined it to be worth." The fund also quotes an article by the geographer Dr. Arnon Golan from the University of Haifa: "The taking of Arab lands by Jewish settlements during the War of Independence." Golan reports that the JNF paid 18.25 lirot per dunam for the abandoned land and writes: "By comparison, the price of a dunam of land purchased from Arabs was between 12 lirot and 28 lirot per dunam, so financially speaking, this was a realistic price."

The significance of the petitions, the JNF claims, "is the nationalization of about 2.5 million dunams, which are the property of the JNF and Jewish donors over the generations, just like the nationalization of the property of the entire Jewish people." However, it is clearly problematic if the JNF has acquired the property of absentee Arab landowners and Arabs now cannot lease the land.

The response to the court was accompanied by a blatant threat. "If the court decides contrary to the position of the JNF that the ILA cannot market JNF lands to Jews alone, the JNF will be forced to market the lands itself." To that end, it will be forced to cancel the treaty setting the relationship between it and the state.

In effect, in this matter, too, the JNF is in a trap, and its threat to shoot hangs on an unloaded revolver. The treaty addresses not only state management of JNF lands, but also authorizes the JNF to forest state lands, and that task is no less important to the JNF than taking care of the lands of the Jewish people.

The crisis over the JNF is crying out for a creative solution outside the Knesset plenum and the High Court of Justice. MK Ami Ayalon (Labor) is offering a solution of this type. Ayalon received a great deal of criticism for supporting the JNF law in its preliminary reading. In response to this criticism, he sent his supporters a position paper explaining his point of view.

"I do not accept saying that the JNF's task of settling Jews ended with the establishment of the state," he writes. However, Ayalon agrees that Israel must uphold the right to equality. "There is a built-in contradiction between the JNF as a body that deals with acquiring lands and settling Jews, and the administration of state lands by the Israel Lands Authority." Therefore "anyone interested in seeing the JNF continue to exist as a body that promotes the Jewish character of the State of Israel must make a clear distinction between the ILA and the JNF on land administration."

With this in mind, he proposes that the JNF return to the state all the absentee owners' lands. He also proposes that the JNF change its aims and start leasing lands not only to Jews, but for any objective that suits the state's needs. Thus he thinks that the JNF should lease lands to demobilized soldiers of all religions, or for the establishment of Jewish-Muslim institutions. This proposal, Ayalon believes, combines the aims of the JNF as a Zionist body, with human rights. If the changes are not made to the draft bill, he writes, he will vote against it.

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Haaretz
Wed., July 25, 2007 Av 10, 5767
Is the JNF racist?
By Shahar Ilan

Here is an embarrassing fact: In 1957, when the Knesset passed the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Law, one of the great leaders of Mapam (the United Workers Party), Yaakov Hazan, said: "The JNF lands, which were purchased with the money of the Jewish people, are sacred for Jewish settlement, just as the Muslim waqf [land held in religious trust] is sacred to the Muslim community." Now, Hazan's ideological successor, Haim Oron (Meretz), argues that the bill seeking to designate JNF lands for Jews only is racist. Oron explained that "only a fossilized movement doesn't change its mind over the years." Yet one cannot help but wonder how what was sacred turned into racism.

Article 3A of the JNF's articles of incorporation states that one of its goals is to purchase and lease lands on which to settle Jews. The JNF bill, which passed its preliminary reading last week, requires the state to manage JNF lands in keeping with this principle. The bill, by the way, is not intended to circumvent a High Court of Justice ruling; its goal is to preempt a ruling on a petition now before the High Court. In other words, it is a preemptive bypass of the High Court. The immediate reason for the bill was Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's opinion that the lease of JNF lands to non-Jews should be permitted. Thus for now, this is a bill to bypass Mazuz.

The Knesset presidium has the authority to bar racist laws from the floor. But the Knesset's legal adviser, Nurit Elstein, ruled that "only bills whose essentially racist nature cries out to heaven and shakes the very foundations" should be barred. Elstein felt that the JNF bill does not cry out to heaven. But is it silently racist?

Law professor Amnon Rubinstein of the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center chose not to deal with this question in a letter he sent to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann. However, he did write that the bill "contradicts the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty and harms the basic values of the State of Israel." In other words, it might be overturned by the High Court. He also wrote that the bill "will cause great damage to our reputation and will serve the campaign of boycotts and ostracism that is being waged against us by haters of Israel." There is certainly room to ask what reputation Rubinstein is talking about.

Haim Sandberg, a doctor of jurisprudence at the College of Management, is about to publish a book entitled "Israel's Lands, Zionism and Post-Zionism." Sandberg does not understand how it can be argued that using land purchased for Jews in order to settle Jews is racist. "There is no reason not to designate JNF land, or most of it, for Jews," he said.

The chairman of the National Union-National Religious Party, MK Uriel Ariel, said: "Generations of Jews collected their pennies to bring to fruition the Zionist enterprise of redeeming the land, in the clear and certain knowledge that the money would be used for Jews." The problem with this argument is that the state transferred to the JNF about a million dunams (approximately 247,000 acres) of land belonging to absentee owners. It could very well be that to designate JNF land for Jews only, this one million dunams would have to be restored to the state.

The chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Menachem Ben-Sasson (Kadima), is not prepared to say whether he believes the bill is racist or constitutional. He would only say that "in principle, I want to discuss it, and I am not prepared to be told at the outset that I can't."

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THE JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL, By Russell F. Robinson
JNF website

A newspaper writer in his thirties went to France to cover a story. The story changed his life. His life changed the future of the Jewish people. Theodore Herzl founded the Zionist Movement. He was born in Budapest in 1860 and was educated in the spirit of “German enlightenment” as a secular Jew. In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus a Jewish officer in the French Army was falsely accused of treason. Mobs shouted, “Death to the Jews.” Herzl, covering the story as a reporter, became convinced that the Jews needed a country of their own. Herzl concluded that anti-Semitism was a growing factor that assimilation would never solve. Herzl claimed that Jews would gain acceptance to the world only if they stopped attempting to be among all, but could have a nation of their own.

Herzl proposed to collect funds from Jews around the world to participate in this dream. He formed the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in 1901, to repurchase land in Palestine and reclaim what was historically theirs to be held in trust for the Jewish people.

As the JNF movement continued, Jews across the world donated funds. Everyplace in which land could be bought, Jewish National Fund purchased the land under the covenant that it would hold this land in “perpetuity” for the Jewish people everywhere. The charter specifies that the JNF is to purchase land for the settlement of Jews. The purchasing of the land was to be for farming and developing communities on the land, always with the desire and dream to live in peace with our Arab neighbors. In the 1930’s the British issued the white paper limiting Jewish immigration to the land of Palestine, based on Arab uprisings and demands.

In 1933 Hitler came to power, and over the next years, six million of our people perished. They had nowhere to call home. No one wanted them. No country opened their doors for them.

On May 14, 1948 the State of Israel was established. In a letter then signed by President Harry S. Truman the United States proclaimed:

“This government has been informed that a Jewish State has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government and the defacto authority of the new Jewish State, The State of Israel.”

This reality of a Jewish State, was recognized by the United Nations. A land for the Jewish people, link us to our very origins as a Jewish people.

No other people have a land as a part of their existence. From our beginning, Abraham was commanded, Lech L’cha, “go forward to a new land.” He was not merely directed to begin a new religion or new people, but G-d commanded him to link a land to this new tribe. Thousands of years later Moses was given the task of bringing our people back home. He was not commanded by G-d to negotiate a better health package for the slaves or better working conditions, but to bring our people back home to the land of Israel. For two thousand years we prayed, “Next year in Jerusalem”. We yearned for a return to Zion, to the land of the Jewish People. For thousands of years no country ever allowed the Jews to call their land home.

The Jewish people through the Jewish National Fund repurchased our land. Imagine the leap of faith that one must have had in 1901 or 1905 living in a shtetl in Europe, in Peoria or in San Francisco to donate to a land for the Jews. A Jewish National Fund representative would ask people to donate money literary taking food off their plates to reestablish a land that they had not seen for 2000 years. There were no maps or missions to this land. These people donated, secure in the fact that the money would repurchase land for the “Jewish” people. That was more that just a written covenant, “it was and is a trust that cannot be broken.

After the establishment of the State of Israel, the government of Israel that was recognized by the United Nations, nationalized lands. Israel approached the Jewish National Fund to purchase some of these lands. The fledging Jewish State needed to acquire cash to be able to buy arms to defend herself from her hostile Arab neighbors. Lands that were proposed to Jewish National Fund for purchase were appraised. JNF purchased these lands from the State of Israel at the highest appraisal. JNF bought this land with donated money under the covenant of Jewish ownership as it had since 1901.

In 1961, during a time in which Israel was in need of expansion, Jewish National Fund together with the government of Israel established the Israel Land Authority. This new agency was created to help Israel in the area of zoning and community development. These were for new Moshavim, Kibbutzim and new communities. It was also for the creation of new communities for the Bedouins and for the Israeli Arab communities. Under traditional norms, communities were segregated for Arab, Jewish, Christian and Bedouins. This separation even continues in the educational arena today. The Israel Land Authority became a leasing agent for all the land. JNF turned over its land to the Israeli Land Authority for leasing purposes only insisting that the Israel Land Authority honor its covenant to the Jewish people. The Israel Land Authority also has responsibility for monitoring and administering the land, protecting it from squatters and illegal construction.

The current court case in front of the Supreme Court is not a court case against the Jewish National Fund but a court case against the Israel Land Authority. The Knesset bill put forward for its first reading was a bill restating the right of Jewish National Fund to hold its land in trust for the Jewish people. This is the same law that also protects the Arab WAQF, which controls almost six percent of the land and only allows Muslims to purchase, lease or live on any of the land.

Democracy is a great standard in which we all believe. Democracy is a process that allows us to participate freely in the decisions and debates of the country in which we live. The foundations of those democracies throughout the world are different from one country to another. During 9/11, different laws were passed in the United States. Some felt they were unconstitutional and against our democratic principles. The circumstances and situations of the time, made us make those decisions. That is the reality of a democracy. It is a participatory act, but one in which a country makes decisions based upon the realities and circumstances of the time. The foundation of the democracy will also determine its course in history.

For 2000 years we yearned for a Jewish nation. We have celebrated planeloads of North American Olim traveling to Israel. We take missions to Israel so we can participate in the future of this land and the Jewish people. Even the discussion over this issue is based upon our involvement in a Jewish homeland.

The stories of Anne Frank and others should remind us that it is not a matter of democracy alone, but a matter of Jewish homeland. If Israel had existed in 1939, would the Holocaust have occurred? A democratic system brought an evil man, Hitler, to power and took from us 6 million of our people. Jews perished not only because of man’s inhumanity to man, but because they had nowhere to call home. The lack of a Jewish State then was our failure as well to these people.

We celebrated when over a million Jews from the Soviet Union came to Israel; with the airlift of almost 50 thousand Ethiopians we became the first country ever to bring blacks not in as slaves, but as citizens to its shores.

The JNF land is a complex issue filled with emotion. The bottom line is that Israel is a Jewish State for the Jewish people. We need Israel because history has proved that even within democracies the Jewish people have had to endure pogroms, discrimination, anti-Semitism and death. The strength we enjoy today as a Jewish people in the Diaspora is linked to the strength of Israel.

I conclude with this thought: years ago, I saw the flight of IDF air force jets over Auschwitz. It was an air force with a Magen David on its wings. If it had been 65 years earlier those IDF jets could have bombed the railway lines and saved millions of Jews. Then, we had no Jewish homeland, there was no Jewish air force. Today we have the State of Israel; the “Jewish” democratic country for the Jewish people everywhere.

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Bill allocating JNF land to Jews only passes preliminary reading
Haaretz
Yoav Stern and Shahar Ilan
7/18/2007

The Knesset plenum approved a bill Wednesday, in its preliminary reading, which calls for all lands under the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to be allocated to Jews only. The bill passed by a massive majority of 64 MKS to 16.

The bill, initiated by MK Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party), MK Zeev Elkin (Kadima), and MK Moshe Kahlon (Likud), is geared to bypass a 2004 court ruling which annulled an Israel Lands Administration (ILA) policy that prevented Arabs from participating in bids to purchase land owned by the JNF.

As a result of the ruling, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided that all land managed by the ILA, including land owned by the Jewish National Fund, will be marketed without discrimination or limits including to non-Jews.
The JNF owns 13 percent of state land, purchased for Jewish settlement.

When the bill was discussed in the Knesset presidency, there were demands to nullify it because it was called racist, but Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein said a bill should only be rejected if the racism is explicit in the proposal.

Hadash Chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh called the bill an "abominable legislation" and added that "the Knesset's face is the face of Uri Ariel, the radical of the settlers." He maintained that, "this is another expression of a series of racist laws that are passed every day in the state of the Jews. The Arab population won't accept the theft of their rights to the lands that have been expropriated from them for years."

In response to the bill, MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra`am-Ta`al) said "this is institutionalized Jewish racism and ethnic democracy that is raging against anything Arab."

The Meretz faction said that the government's support in the racist bill exposes its real face. "The Knesset is giving an excellent excuse for whoever is asking to represent Israel as an apartheid state which must be destroyed," said the party's statement.

MK Wassel Taha (Balad) said, "Only an insane Knesset passes a racist law that perpetuates the 'great land robbery of 1948' and changes it into an only Jewish asset."

MK Jamal Zahalka, also of Balad, maintained that the law shows an increase in the level of racism, and a decrease in the level of democracy, and a sprint to the direction of institutionalized apartheid.

MK Elkin, however, said that the bill comes to prevent the state of Israel from breaching the basic treaty between the state and the JNF, and to make historical justice.

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Bill would stop Arabs leasing JNF land
The Jerusalem Post
JPost.com Staff
7/18/2007

The Knesset on Wednesday approved a preliminary vote on a proposal to forbid Arab-Israelis from leasing land belonging to the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet L'Israel,) which owns 13 percent of all land in Israel.

The bill was submitted by MKs Uri Ariel (NRP/NU) and Ze'ev Elkin (Kadima) and won the support of 64 MKs against 16.

The vote came just a few weeks after Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz announced that JNF lands must be allocated to Arabs as well as to Jews.

Mazuz told the High Court of Justice that the State Attorney's Office was of the opinion that the lands administration must allocate land without discriminating between Jews and Arabs.

After announcing that he would petition against Mazuz's announcement, Ariel said that when the JNF was formed, a decision was taken for the administration to acquire and manage lands on behalf of the Jewish people only.

Ahmad Tibi (UAL) lambasted the bill. "The Jewish anti-democratic racism has become institutionalized," he said.

Muhammad Barakei (Hadash) said that the Knesset had approved a "racist law."

Bill reserving JNF land for Jews only passes preliminary hearing
Arab MKs call bill racist, 'galloping toward institutionalized apartheid'. Bill's presenters explain move is meant to prevent High Court intervention and honor wishes of generations of Jews

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Ynet
Amnon Meranda
7/18.2007

Land owned by Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – Jewish National Fund will be allocated to Jews only, if a bill which was approved in preliminary reading at Wednesday's Knesset plenum becomes a law.

The proposal, which was approved 64:16, with one abstention, was initiated by MKs Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party) and MK Ze'ev Elkin (Kadima) and was quickly condemned as racist by Arab MKs.

"The passing of the bill points to a rise in the level of racism, a decline in the level of democracy and galloping toward institutionalized apartheid. There is a racist majority in the Knesset that is willing to support almost any proposal against Arab citizens," said MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) in response to the bill.

MK Uri Ariel, who presented the bill, explained that "the Israel Land Administration manages the land for the JNF and holds the land in trusts. As the JNF's trustee, the ILA must be true to the fund's principles and goals and to the principle of national ownership of the land.

"For generations, thousands of Jews saved every cent in order to purchase land in the Land of Israel for the Jewish People. The ILA must honor Keren Kayemeth's goals and the wishes of generations of Jews, who wished to purchase land that would be sacred to the Jewish people."

MK Ze'ev Elkin attempted to justify the bill, saying "this bill proposal has come to do historic justice and prevent the State of Israel – with the blatant intervention of the High Court of Justice – from violating the basic pact it made with the JNF. Keren Kayemeth was established by the Jewish People in the Diaspora for a specific purpose, namely, Zionist settlement in the Land of Israel."

'Bill affirms 1948 land theft'
MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) called the passing of the bill "institutionalized Jewish racism and ethnic democracy going against anything that is Arab."

MK Wasil Taha (Balad) said the bill was nothing more than land theft.

"Only an insane Knesset would pass a racist law that affirms the great land theft of 1948 and turns it into Jews-only property, even though the original owners are still on their land," Taha said.

Hadash Chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh said, "This is an abominable legislation. This is another step in the series of racist laws passing every day in the Jewish State."

The bill was also criticized from within the JNF as the JNF's director, Radi Safuri, an Israeli-Arab, told Ynet, "This is a racist law which was initiated by extreme rightist movements. This law does not exist in any of the democratic countries, and it harms the rights of the citizens in the State of Israel and of the Arab population in particular."

*****

Roee Nahmias and Roi Mandel contributed to this report
A racist Jewish state
Haaretz
Editorial
7/20/2007

Every day the Knesset has the option of passing laws that will advance Israel as a democratic Jewish state or turn it into a racist Jewish state. There is a very thin line between the two. This week, the line was crossed. If the Knesset legal counselor did not consider the bill entitled "the Jewish National Fund Law" as sufficiently racist to keep it off the agenda, it is hard to imagine what legislation she will consider racist.

In 1995 the Supreme Court rescued the state from callously discriminating against its Arab citizens through the Ka'adan case, which prohibited the Israel Lands Administration from discriminating against non-Jews by leasing land through the Jewish Agency. Since then the attorney general has stated that such discrimination is unacceptable - also when it is carried out through the Jewish National Fund. The MKs were unable to accept this egalitarian ruling, and on Wednesday a large majority of 65 voted in favor of a preliminary reading permitting such discrimination. The bill is also backed by the head of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Menahem Ben-Sasson.

Any explanation by the supporters of the bill seeking to beautify it should be rejected immediately by anyone who cares about the country's image. This bill reflects an abasement of the Zionist enterprise to lows never imagined in the Declaration of Independence. Even though the Jewish National Fund purchased the lands for the Jewish people in the Diaspora, the State of Israel has already been established and these lands must now serve all its citizens.
For those living for tomorrow and not the past, the aim is to create in Israel a healthy, progressive state where the needs of the two peoples should concern the leaders and legislators. The Jewish National Fund's land policy counters the interests of the state and cannot discriminate by law against the minority living in Israel.

The clause in the bill stating that "the leasing of JNF lands for the purpose of settling Jews will not be seen as unacceptable discrimination," even though it involves 13 percent of state-controlled lands and allows for further expressions of discrimination. For example, the establishment of a university only for Jews on JNF land, or a hospital, or a movie theater.

It is not surprising that MK Uri Ariel, who favors the redemption of lands by Jews also beyond the Green Line, is the person who initiated the Jewish National Fund bill. But the support of Benjamin Netanyahu, Ami Ayalon, Michael Eitan, Reuven Rivlin and Shalom Simhon is a very bad omen for the future of legislation in Israel. The Ka'adan case in the Supreme Court failed to bring about change. The power to discriminate was passed on to communities' acceptance committees that reject candidates by reverting to the clause of "being ill-suited to the community." If it was not for the Supreme Court's ruling in the Ka'adan case, it would have been possible also to reject non-Jewish candidates from Russia.

The Ka'adan ruling was exceptional in setting red lines, allowing a broad range for change, establishing norms and preventing the debasement of the rule book. It turns out that the Supreme Court is not omnipotent. In an instant, a racist Knesset can overturn its rulings.

******

Ex-minister Rubinstein: State should reclaim land given to JNF
Haaretz
Amiram Barkat,
7/24/2007

The JNF is a private company established at the start of the 20th century to acquire property in Palestine for the purpose of creating a Jewish national home.

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Is the JNF racist?
Haaretz
Shahar Ilan
7/25/2007

The Knesset presidium has the authority to bar racist laws from the floor. But the Knesset's legal adviser, Nurit Elstein, ruled that "only bills whose essentially racist nature cries out to heaven and shakes the very foundations" should be barred. Elstein felt that the JNF bill does not cry out to heaven. But is it silently racist?

*****

Some Jews oppose land bill
JTA
7/25/2007

Some U.S. Jewish groups are protesting a Knesset bill that would permit the Israel Lands Authority to uphold a policy that favors Jewish landowners in Israel.

Ameinu, the American affiliate of the World Labor Zionist movement, sent a letter of protest Tuesday to Kadima's Ze'ev Elkin, one of the co-sponsors of a Knesset bill that would permit the Israel Lands Athority to continue its practice of leasing land belonging to the Jewish National Fund to Jews only.

The Union for Reform Judaism is also preparing a letter opposing the measure. "I think it's unfortunate. I think it's a mistake. I hope it doesn't pass," said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the union. "It's not appropriate for the government of the State of Israel, which must serve all of its citizens, to take actions that discriminate against its non-Jewish minority, specifically its Arab minority."

Ronald Lauder, president of the Jewish National Fund of America, defended the move, saying he was "gratified" that the Israeli government "recognized that the land purchased by the Jewish people for the Jewish people should
remain in the hands of its rightful owners."

*****

A Mazuz bypass law
Haaretz
Yitzhak Bam
7/26/2007

This week, in an attempt to rescue some of the honor of hundreds of thousands of our forefathers who collected their pennies and dreamed of redeeming the land, the Knesset had its say by a significant majority. With sweeping support it passed, at a preliminary reading, the amendment to the Israel Lands Administration Law, which will enable the ILA to administer the lands of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) according to the fund's goals, and to lease them for Jewish settlement only. The response among the non-Jewish MKs was bitter, and Meretz voiced criticism as well. The word "racism" sneaked in once again, the same old ugly and immoral accusation.

This may be the place to cite what one of our public leaders once said about the JNF's lands: "The lands of the JNF, which were purchased with the money of the Jewish people, are devoted to Jewish settlement, just as the Islamic Waqf is devoted to providing the social needs of the Muslim community." These words were said by Yaakov Hazan, the outstanding, historic leader of Mapam, the left wing of the Zionist labor movement.

The amendment to the law only fulfills Hazan's words. The amendment makes it possible to devote JNF lands to the purpose for which Jews throughout the Diaspora collected their meager funds in the "blue box" - Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. Anyone who claims that this is racism apparently believes that Zionism is racism, or simply does not understand the legal situation and the reason for the legislation.

The JNF purchased lands and administered them independently. It leased them for Jewish settlement. With the establishment of the state, the Israeli government, which was suffering from a lack of cash, sold from 1.25 million to 1.5 million dunams of land to the JNF. This was land belonging to refugees who fled the country with the establishment of the state. The JNF paid genuine compensation for the lands and helped to fill the state's coffers.

With the establishment of the state, the JNF was incorporated as a private company, according to the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael Law. The fund administered its lands on its own. In 1960 the Knesset reorganized the land legislation, and passed three laws. According to the law, JNF lands, such as those belonging to the state and the Israel Lands Development Authority, would be defined as "Israel lands," with their administration entrusted to the ILA, which was established according to the Israel Lands Administration Law. This meant that a government authority took over the administration of the lands belonging to the JNF.

But the ILA promised to administer the JNF lands in accordance with the JNF's goals. Their main purpose is to settle Jews on purchased lands. This commitment was formalized in an agreement between the JNF and the State of Israel. By dint of this agreement, for over 50 years the ILA dealt with JNF lands in accordance with its goals, and everything was orderly and proper.

But in the autumn of 2005, in the wake of an appeal by Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the attorney general ruled in his reply to the High Court of Justice that the ILA was not permitted to administer JNF lands in the spirit of its goals and must lease all the lands it handles (including JNF lands) to anyone, ignoring the JNF's basic purpose and the agreement signed between the state and the JNF.

The bill I formulated while taking part in the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, on the request of MK Uri Ariel and others, tries to restore the former situation and anchor in law what is self-evident: the ILA's moral obligation and authority to administer JNF lands in accordance with the fund's goals, so that lands purchased with Jewish donors' money will be devoted to Jewish settlement. This is not a law that bypasses the High Court, but a law that bypasses Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. Even if the bill is passed, it does not deny the state's obligation to lease lands to anyone who wants them. It only prevents the state from fulfilling this obligation at the expense of the JNF.

So it is surprising that Meretz chose to send an Arab as its representative to the JNF directorate, just as the party would not send an Arab representative to the administration of the Jewish Agency. His interests are not among the interests and goals of the fund. The representative would almost certainly support the dismantling of the JNF, and almost certainly his purpose for sitting on the board is to neutralize the JNF's basic purpose. It is doubtful whether the Mapam visionaries dreamed of that.

According to the fundamentals of justice and equality, the State of Israel must act for the benefit of all its citizens. The JNF is not obligated to work for non-Jewish settlement. If that is racism, all of Zionism is racism. And its supporters are racists, including Yaakov Hazan and his party, Mapam.

Attorney Yitzhak Bam is a member of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel. He formulated the amendment to the Israel Lands Administration Law, which passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset.

*****

Arab Land-Ban Panned
The Jewish Week
Steve Lipman
7/26/2007

American organizations that advocate equal rights for Arab residents of Israel were critical of a bill passed by the Knesset in an early stage last week that would limit the sale of Jewish National Fund land sales to Jews. The bill, approved in its first reading by a 64-16 vote, would bypass a 2004 court ruling and in effect bar the Israel Lands Authority from selling JNF land to Israeli Arabs.

The Abraham Fund Initiatives, “regrets” the Knesset action, according to a statement. “This proposed law perpetuates and institutionalizes the discrimination against Israel’s Arab citizens in general and specifically regarding the issue of land allocation.”

In a letter to Knesset member Ze’ev Elkin of the Kadima Party, who introduced the legislation, Ameinu, the U.S. affiliate of the World Labor Zionist Movement, wrote: “At a time when Israel is trying to show the world that there is no contradiction between a Jewish state and a democratic one, every effort must be made to enforce the principle of equality and equal opportunity for all Israeli citizens.”

Larry Garber, CEO of the New Israel Fund, a civil rights organization, said the bill’s final passage is not certain, but “What’s troubling here is the large number of Knesset members who voted in favor of it.”

Although JNF controls only 13 percent of Israeli land, “the symbol of having the state involved in a policy that allows discrimination is clearly going to be see as problematic,” Garber said.

****

Reform Slams Knesset Plan for JNF Land
Forward
Rebecca Spence
7/26/2007

America’s largest Jewish denomination is issuing calls for the Israeli Knesset to reverse course on a controversial piece of legislation declaring that Jewish National Fund lands can be leased only to Jews.

The legislation, introduced by three Israeli Knesset members, passed last week in a vote of 64-16 in its first reading. In order for the bill, which would bar JNF lands from falling into Arab hands, to officially become law, it needs to come before the Knesset two more times.

This week, the Reform Movement joined a growing chorus of calls from left-wing Jewish groups roundly condemning the bill as racist and undemocratic.

“It’s very hard to imagine any circumstance where a Jewish minority in any Diaspora country would accept with equanimity a bill that would forbid Jews from purchasing land,” said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. “Therefore it is essential that when the Jewish majority in Israel exercises power, it extend to others the rights it always demanded for itself when we were in the minority.”

Yoffie also expressed concern that if the bill were to pass, it could have far-reaching implications for Israel’s image on the global stage. “You can’t pass a bill that in democratic circles around the world will not be understood, and will bring condemnation on the heads of the Knesset and Israel leaders,” he said.

The JNF, a quasi-governmental body founded more than a century ago as a central Zionist state-building institution, owns 13% of Israeli lands. Historically, Diaspora Jews have contributed funds to JNF — often dropping pennies in their iconic blue tin collection boxes — in order for it to purchase Palestinian lands, often owned by absentee landlords, to create a Jewish homeland. In 1962, JNF reached an agreement with the State of Israel, allowing it to lease its land to Jews through the government’s Israel Land Authority.

In 2005, Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ruled in favor of a preliminary court decision mandating that the ILA cannot discriminate against Arab citizens by leasing only to Jews. The court hearing was a response to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, a legal group that defends civil rights in the Jewish state.
The recent Knesset bill is widely viewed as a means of circumventing the attorney general’s previous decision. It also may serve as a way of pre-empting an upcoming September court hearing on ACRI’s 2005 petition, according to the group’s chief legal counsel, Dan Yakir.

“If the petition passed, it would force the Israel Land Authority to market JNF land to Arabs as well as Jews,” Yakir said. Yakir explained that the court’s previous ruling was not binding, and the forthcoming decision would mark a final ruling.

Despite the outcry from liberal groups — including the New Israel Fund and Ameinu, the American affiliate of the World Labor Zionist Movement — JNF is standing by the Knesset bill.

“We were founded to create a Jewish state, and the lands that we bought were part of our covenant with the Jewish people to protect and care for the land in perpetuity,” said Jodi Bodner, a spokeswoman for the JNF in America. “We need to protect the dollars and pennies of those who sacrificed themselves.”

****

The little box that couldn't
Haaretz
Yossi Sarid
7/26/2007
The state hasn't yet decided what it is: What it wants to be when it's big and what it will want to be when it's small, if we ever cast off the curse of the occupation. Does it want to be a worthy state, described as Jewish and democratic, or will it remain a state in the making, continuing "to redeem land" by the force of inertia and the force of the Jewish ruling majority?

The current chairman of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) undoubtedly likens himself to the legendary pioneer Yehoshua Hankin, and it's only a pity he doesn't drain swamps like Hankin did. The new law recently passed by the Knesset in a preliminary reading, known as the JNF Law, is a festering swamp which will yet bring back the Anopheles mosquito, which will yet bring back malaria. And maybe we should really replant eucalyptus trees and start everything over?

When Joseph sends his brothers out of Egypt to Canaan, to their father Jacob, he implores them, "Do not be quarrelsome on the way," because that is the way of a long, wearisome way - to trigger anger and strife, as it is written, "The people grew restive on the journey." The thing is that Israel is no longer a state in the making. True, it has not yet achieved rest, but it has come to the haven. And the country's Arab citizens have a part in that haven, guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence, which is committed to the complete equality of rights. In its 60th year, a mature and responsible Israel should ensure that its moves are steadier and more measured, and not go on stubbornly trying to cross the desert as though the exodus from Egypt had not ended.

Israel's enemies have had no better days than this week. The Israeli parliament decided by an overwhelming majority to strengthen their hostile voice so it can resonate from one end of the world to the other. We told you, British professors will say, the Zionists conquer lands from Arabs and expropriate land from Arabs, but the one thing they do not do is sell "Jewish lands" to Arabs. Too few stood up to protest, and the Israeli academic world, our colleagues, is treading water, which is also allocated in the occupied territories with the stinginess of discrimination.

The JNF's world chairman, Efi Stenzler, told me proudly this week that he is introducing the blue box - for donations to the organization - into kindergartens and schools this year, restoring the old glory. That brought to mind my school days, and especially those sky-blue Fridays, when the outstanding pupil of the week got to be the first to donate. The teachers Rachel and Yaffa read out his name, he stood up, the penny his mom gave him in his hand, and plunked it into the box, which responded with a cheery clink.

My two grandchildren will be entering first grade in another month. If anyone had asked me, which is not generally the case, I would save the shekel in their name; not because of the shekel but because of the hole in it, a black hole, because of a box that has dried up. Here's some advice for big donors, too. Do not donate a shekel until the JNF begs the legislature: Please, do not put that legislation in the law book, do not turn the Jewish National Fund into the Jewish Nationality Fund, do not do to Arab citizens what is abhorred by our donors, Jewish citizens wherever they may be.

At the beginning of the week, in the wake of the Iranian visit to Syria, there was a chorus of cries to establish a national unity government. It is not clear why cabinet ministers and MKs were upset. After all, just such a government already exists, and muscular, insular Jewry wields a huge majority in the Knesset.

In less than 60 years down the line, a lot less, the muscle-bound types will complain to the education minister for allowing the Palestinian version of the Nationality Fund to be taught in the schools. If it had not been taught, they will say, it would have evaporated, just like the Nakba, which disappeared as though it never was in the official story of the national revival.

****

US Jewish groups lobby against JNF bill
The Jerusalem Post
Michal Lando
7/28/2007

The Reform Movement and other liberal Jewish groups are urging the Knesset not to move forward with legislation that would prohibit Arab Israelis from leasing land owned by the Jewish National Fund.

A preliminary reading of the bill, which was approved by a 64-16 margin last week, would allow the Israel Lands Authority to bar Israeli Arabs from leasing any land that it manages. The JNF owns 13 percent of the land in Israel, much of which was paid for by Diaspora Jews.

In 1962, the JNF reached an agreement with the Israel Lands Authority, established in 1961, that allowed the ILA to manage JNF-owned land.

The current bill is intended to bypass a decision by Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz in support of a preliminary court ruling that said non-Jews could not be barred from leasing JNF lands.

The reasoning behind the bill, according to the JNF, is that "the land purchased by the Jewish people for the Jewish people should remain in the hands of its rightful owners."

"It's important for us who had a covenant with the donors, that we honor that covenant," said Russell Robinson, chief executive officer of JNF.

"For 2000 years, I don't remember that we were praying and dreaming that we can't wait to establish a democratic state in the Middle East, but we did say that we can't wait to reestablish a Jewish homeland."

Despite this, the bill has disappointed Israelis and Americans alike, and efforts to try and prevent the bill from moving forward are underway.

A letter on behalf of the board of directors of Ameinu, the US affiliate of the World Zionist Movement, addressed to MK Ze'ev Elkin (Kadima), expressed "profound disappointment" with the recent vote.

"At a time when Israel is trying to show the world that there is no contradiction between a Jewish state and a democratic one, every effort must be made to enforce the principle of equality and equal opportunity for all Israeli citizens," the letter states.

Though Amienu recognizes the "complexities of the situation" at a time of tensions between Israel's Jewish and Arab populations, Israel should demonstrate that the Israeli Arabs "have a stake in the country's future," the letter states.

"The bill is not only unfair to one fifth of Israel's population; it also reinforces the growing perception around the world that Israel is an 'apartheid' state," the letter states.

The Reform Movement is in the process of drafting its own letter opposing the bill, to be sent to Knesset members this week.

"We are quite concerned by the letter and spirit of law," said Rabbi Andrew Davids, executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA.)

"This is not the time for Israel to be looking at policies that differentiate between different cohorts of its citizenry."

Though the JNF was entrusted with bringing a Jewish state into being, some institutions need to be "reevaluated," said Davids.

"What we are seeing is the maturation of an Israeli democratic society, and some institutions need to be reevaluated with regards to the current demographics. Israel will never be a state exclusively for Jews," he said.

The New Israel Fund also opposes the bill.

Other Diaspora activists, however, support the bill. ZOA President Morton Klein said he was "very disappointed that Jewish groups would not understand the unique circumstances in Israel."

"Israel is not America. It was created first as a Jewish state, where America was created first as [a] democracy," Klein said.

Klein pointed out other Israeli laws that give Jews privileges not available to non-Jewish Israeli citizens, such as aliya.

"Why don't they publicly complain that Jews can't purchase land anywhere in Jordan, our ally?" said Klein, arguing that in Jordan, selling land to a Jew is an offense punishable by death.

*****

The JNF, backed into a corner
Haaretz
Shahar Ilan
7/30/2007

*****

Violating the norms of democracy
Haaretz
Moshe Arens
7/31/2007

People born in this country before the state was established, whether Jews or Arabs, had experienced the British colonial administration in Palestine, hardly a model of democracy. As a matter of fact, it was only the small community of "Anglo-Saxons," those that arrived in Israel from the English-speaking world, who had had experience living in a democracy and brought that tradition with them to Israel.

So it's been "one man, one vote," whether Jew or Arab, since 1948 in Israel. Certainly not Apartheid, as is so frequently charged by Israel's enemies, and even some of its friends. After all, the fight against Apartheid in South Africa focused on that simple demand - one man, one vote - that was denied to the black population there.

But equality in the polling booth is not the only element of democratic government. It may be the most important one, but it is not the only one. Equality of rights and obligations for all citizens is also required. And don't forget equality of opportunity. It is surprising how easy it seems to be to forget or neglect to apply these "equalities" to all of Israel's citizens.

Let's start with universal military service - the obligation to defend our country. By all accepted standards of democratic government, that should most certainly be applied to all. As if we needed a reminder, the latest Israel Defense Forces statistics show that a very large number of ultra-Orthodox Jewish youth do not fulfill this obligation. This has been true ever since 1948, and the number seems to be growing exponentially. Now along come our Knesset members, and instead of rectifying this matter, they renew the infamous Tal Law, which legitimizes this injustice, for another five years.

The ultra-Orthodox Jewish youth are not the only ones to benefit from this inequality. If you are an Israeli citizen of the Islamic or Christian persuasion, you also are not required to defend your country. That is unless you are a Circassian, who even though Muslim, is subject to compulsory military service. Poor Circassians!

Last week the Knesset passed in preliminary reading a law that would require the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to allocate land that it owns only to Jews. Presumably this means that Jews who are not citizens of Israel would qualify, but Israel's Arab citizens would be barred from access to land owned by the JNF. A blatant violation of the norms of democracy.

But wait a minute, you might say, was not the Jewish National Fund founded in 1901 so the Land of Israel could be redeemed and come under Jewish ownership? Yes, of course, but something else happened in the meantime. In May 1948, the State of Israel was established, guaranteeing equality to all its citizens. The ultimate purpose of the Zionist Congress that decided on the establishment of the JNF - the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine - has been achieved. In a democratic state one cannot condone laws that discriminate between citizens on ethnic grounds. That was certainly not part of Herzl's vision of the Jewish State.

So what about the Law of Return? Does it not provide a special privilege - the right to immigrate to Israel - for Jews only? Yes, but that is the foundation stone of the State of Israel - to provide a haven for any Jew in the world in need of a haven; so that what happened in the years before the Holocaust and during the Holocaust would never happen again. That is the mission of the State of Israel. A most humane mission by any reckoning. In fulfillment of this mission the Holocaust survivors from Europe, the Jewish communities from the Arab world and Iran, Soviet Jewry and the Ethiopian Jews were absorbed in Israel. Maybe even some of Israel's non-Jewish citizens can identify with this mission, and those who cannot must recognize that this is the reason the State of Israel was established.

The proposed JNF law has nothing to do with this mission. Hopefully, it will not go beyond the preliminary reading in the Knesset.

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Zionism's rights
Shahar Ilan
Haaretz
7/31/2007

A law earmarking Jewish National Fund lands for Jews only might be unconstitutional. That might very well be the case. Such a law might be constitutional, but discriminatory and unjust. Perhaps in order to earmark JNF lands for Jews only, it would be necessary to carry out a land swap between the JNF and the state. Or perhaps the JNF would have to sell back the lands belonging to absentee owners that it bought from the state.

But one thing must be clear: There is not a shred of racism in a law stating that an organization set up to purchase lands for Jews is entitled to do so. The State of Israel has traveled too long a road from the moment when then-ambassador to the United Nations, Chaim Herzog, tore up the General Assembly resolution stating that Zionism is racism until today, when some think that realizing the JNF's goals constitutes racism.

Parts of this road were undoubtedly positive, including the enactment of basic laws and the recognition of human rights. Now the time has come to pause and ask whether we are not forgetting that Zionism is also a value, and it, too, has rights.

Binyamin Ze'ev (Theodor) Herzl founded the JNF 106 years ago for precisely this purpose: buying land for the Jewish people. Since then, the organization has existed on the profits from this land and on donations from the Jewish people. The JNF is a private organization that is not funded by the state, and yet never ceases to benefit the state through its reforestation and development work.

True, the situation has changed since Herzl's day. Today, the Jews are a majority in this land, not a minority, and the Israel Lands Administration holds more than 90 percent of Israel's lands, including the 11 percent owned by the JNF. And, even more importantly, there is much greater awareness today of the value of equality.

With regard to lands for the Arab Israelis, this awareness of equality is still theoretical, and Israel's actual policies are shameful. The state should be establishing new Arab cities, allocating land for new neighborhoods and industrial zones in existing towns and cities, finally reaching an agreement with the Bedouin over their lands, recognizing the unrecognized villages and allowing them the planning and development needed to turn them into genuine villages.

But all of these things can be done via the more than 80 percent of state lands the ILA owns, without requiring the JNF to abandon the vision it was given by the founders of Zionism. If there is need for JNF land, territory can be swapped. If the procedure for conducting land swaps is too complicated, it can be simplified. It is possible, for instance, to state that in the event of a dispute over compensation, the land would be transferred immediately, and the dispute would go to mediation. Land swaps would also enable Arabs to participate in tenders for JNF lands.

The JNF is not the main obstacle, or even a partial obstacle, to a policy of equal land allocations. The obstacle is the Israeli leadership, which believes in perpetuating the discrimination. Even if the High Court of Justice rules that JNF lands may not be earmarked for Jews only, it will not lead to any substantive change. Some things require a shift in consciousness, and that is beyond the High Court's capabilities.

But the petitions against the JNF pose a symbolic question that is no less important than the practical outcome: Does the Zionist movement have the right to buy lands for the sake of the Jewish people and the Zionist vision? The answer to this question must be yes. There should be no decision on the JNF crisis, by either the court or the Knesset. What is needed is a new pact between the JNF and the state, which would recognize both the right to equality and the rights of Zionism.

***

Industrial Disaster Draws Attention to Bedouin Villages
Mitchell Plitnick
The Third Way - Jewish Voice for Peace blog
August 15, 2007
http://mideastanalysis.org/

It is often said that a major sign of discrimination against Arabs in Israel is that the cannot buy land. It is important to note that Jews can’t either. The exception is the 7% of land that is privately owned (about half of which is owned by Arabs and half by Jews), though this land very rarely changes hands. Instead, the practice governing the remaining 93% of the land, which is administered by the Israel Land Authority (ILA), is that it is leased, for terms that can be short or up to 99 years.

Of course, leasing ends up being discriminatory in practice, but on paper, Arabs have the same right and opportunity to lease land. The exception has been Jewish National Fund (JNF) land. This is the issue that has been raised in recent years by Arab citizens of Israel who have sued the state to allow Arabs to compete for lease tenders on JNF land. The claim is that since the ILA administers this land, it falls under the Basic Law of Israel which prohibits discrimination against any of its citizens. The Attorney General agreed and ruled that tenders for JNF land must be open to all. The High Court has not yet ruled, but it is widely expected that they will concur with the AG’s ruling. This is why the current bill, stipulating that JNF lands must be administered according to JNF guidelines (which stipulate that the land was bought for use by Jews) is being promoted in the Knesset. It is an attempt to circumvent the High Court and the Attorney General.

Anti-Arab hostility in Israel is not unexpected, not only because of history, but because this is typical of the treatment of minorities in multi-ethnic societies. In this regard, it is not different from racial or ethnic discrimination found in many countries, not least the USA. The accusation of many supporters of the Palestinians that Arabs can’t buy land is disingenuous and exaggerated. But by the same token, any claim that Arabs have equal access to land in Israel (even just renting an apartment is a very difficult proposition for Arabs) is completely divorced from reality.

The JNF, like the state itself, does not sell its land. The JNF’s own rules prohibit the sale of its land because JNF land is purchased as “national land of the Jewish people.” When the ILA took over administration of this land, the Knesset passed a law enshrining this rule. Indeed, the whole idea of state ownership of just about all of the land in Israel was inspired by the JNF.

The JNF handed over all administration of its lands to the ILA, with the exception of lands reserved for forestation (which are, by definition, irrelevant to this controversy as they will not be settled by anyone, Jewish or not). The JNF, of course, remains involved in the process of leasing the land, but it’s the ILA that actually carries it out. Indeed, it is only because the ILA administers the land that the bill has relevance at all. To explain…

If the JNF was a private landholder, it would be free to manage that land as it sees fit. The small amount of land in Israel that is privately held is not regulated. It is both freely available, under the law, to any buyer and is not monitored for discrimination in selling practices.

Because the ILA is a governmental agency, it falls under the restrictions of the Basic Law, which prohibits discrimination in land leasing. There is, therefore, an inherent contradiction between the rules under which the ILA operates and its agreement with the JNF to administer JNF lands according to JNF guidelines. It should be noted, I hasten to add, that despite the fact that the JNF is specifically set up to purchase land for the use of Jews, its land is sometimes leased short-term to Israeli Arabs. There are also times when JNF land is leased long-term to Arabs, with this land first being traded to the state in exchange for other state-owned land that then becomes JNF property and is used for Jewish development. This is a cumbersome process, so it is not often pursued, and neither of these exceptions are common practice. In open bidding for JNF land leases, only Jews are permitted to participate.

It is this contradiction between Israel’s anti-discrimination laws and JNF guidelines that has come before the High Court and prompted AG Mazuz’s ruling. The bill is designed to circumvent Mazuz’s ruling and the expected decision of the High Court that a government agency cannot discriminate in this fashion.

The JNF was established in 1901. It’s purpose was to gather charitable contributions from Jews all over the world to purchase land in Palestine from the Ottoman Empire. Over the years, the blue “pushkes” (coin collection boxes) the JNF circulated became symbols of support for Israel. Considerable charitable funds came to the JNF and they purchased as much land as they could in Palestine.

But the biggest land acquisitions were two purchases of around one million dunams each (a dunam is about 1/4 of an acre) in 1949 and 1950. this was land the new state had taken control of after the Palestinian owners fled. Since the disposition of the Palestinian refugees was still unclear at that time, Israel sold, at a steep discount, this land to the JNF in order to make it harder for Palestinians to reclaim it. In 1960, the JNF handed over administration of its lands to the ILA under the arrangement that has lasted until this day.

The JNF therefore argues that it collected money for its land purchases from Jews all over the world, and that money was donated with the understanding that it would be spent on developing Jewish communities in Israel. Hence it should be permitted, and even aided by Israel, in fulfilling this obligation. The case brought to the High Court and the attention of the Attorney General argues that the JNF cannot simultaneously make that argument as a private organization and also reap the benefits of getting sweetheart deals from the government and even have the government administer the land. The law backs this argument in the view of the AG and likely in the view of the High Court (based on an earlier ruling).

The new Knesset bill is necessary for those promoting exclusive Jewish access to JNF lands because the discriminatory practice is based on the ILA’s agreeing to abide by JNF guidelines, not on Israeli law. Hence, if the law and the agreement are in conflict, the law must obviously prevail. Therefore, the law specifically addresses JNF lands administered by the ILA, as the bill would provide an exception for JNF lands to Israel’s Basic Law against discrimination in land leasing. If this bill fails and the High Court rules that the ILA cannot discriminate, the JNF could work something out with the government to return administration of the land to the JNF. It obviously does not want to do so, because taking back the administration involves considerable cost as well as the potential for other problems.

As to which land is JNF land, the demarcation is quite clear. Specific plots of land were bought by the JNF prior to statehood. After statehood, the fledgling state sold the JNF a good deal of land held by absentee Palestinian owners at a steep discount in order to prevent the state from being forced to return that land to it Palestinian owners. Yaakov Shimshon Shapira, Israel’s first attorney general, questioned the legality of these sales, but the Absentee Property Law made it legal. So, there are clear titles that the JNF holds on lands it explicitly and specifically purchased before the days of the state and from the state in its earliest days, and they have only changed when the ILA wanted some JNF lands to lease to Arabs and traded other land for it, as I mentioned above.

As a postscript, I’ll just note that the JNF lands are some of the very best lands in Israel, described by historian Michael Oren as the “creme de la creme” when he was bemoaning how the JNF had the best land and left all the rocky and uncultivated land to the state. Also, it should be noted that the ILA and JNF were reported, in 2005, to have been working on a plan to give each other a “get” to avoid this whole controversy. How far those plans were developed, or have been revived today, I can’t say.

Read More:

Haaretz, “Bill allocating JNF land to Jews only passes preliminary reading,” Yoav Stern and Shahar Ilan – 7/18/2007
The Jerusalem Post, “Bill would stop Arabs leasing JNF land,” JPost.com Staff – 7/18/2007
Ynet, “Bill reserving JNF land for Jews only passes preliminary hearing,” Amnon Meranda – 7/18/2007
Haaretz, “A racist Jewish state,” Editorial – 7/20/2007
Haaretz, “Ex-minister Rubinstein: State should reclaim land given to JNF,” Amiram Barkat – 7/24/2007
Haaretz, “Is the JNF racist?,” Shahar Ilan – 7/25/2007
JTA, “Some Jews oppose land bill” – 7/25/2007
Haaretz, “A Mazuz bypass law,” Yitzhak Bam – 7/26/2007
The Jewish Week, “Arab Land-Ban Panned,” Steve Lipman – 7/26/2007
Forward, “Reform Slams Knesset Plan for JNF Land,” Rebecca Spence – 7/26/2007
Haaretz, “The little box that couldn't,” Yossi Sarid – 7/26/2007
The Jerusalem Post, “US Jewish groups lobby against JNF bill,” Michal Lando – 7/28/2007
Haaretz, “The JNF, backed into a corner,” Shahar Ilan – 7/30/2007
Haaretz, “Violating the norms of democracy,” Moshe Arens – 7/31/2007
Haaretz, “Zionism’s rights,” Shahar Ilan – 7/31/2007
Mitchell Plitnick, JVP, 8/20/2007

***
16/12/2004
JNF not required to act for good of all, court told
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is not required to act for the good of all of Israel's citizens and asking it to allocate land for the benefit of everyone is tantamount to nationalizing its assets, according to a document submitted to the High Court of Justice this week.

The document was submitted by the JNF in response to a petition brought against the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) about two months ago by the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and the Adalah legal center.

The petitioners are asking the court to annul an ILA policy that prevents Arabs from participating in bids to purchase land owned by the JNF. The petitioners say the policy is not in keeping with the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty.

About five years ago, the High Court set a precedent when it ruled in favor of Adel Kaadan, who wanted to buy a lot in the community of Katzir, which was built on state land allocated to the Jewish Agency. A panel of five justices, led by Court President Aharon Barak, ruled that "the state's obligation to act with equality extends to all of its activities. It therefore also extends to the allocation of state lands."

ACRI attorney Ouni Bana argued before the court that the Kaadan ruling set a general rule, by which the state must not transfer the use or ownership of land to a third party that contracts with Jews only with regard to public land resources.

However, the JNF argued that its right to act as the "trustee of the Jewish people" surpasses even the principle of equality. "The JNF of course recognizes the right of all citizens to equality," the document submitted to the court states. "However, equality does not extend to the right of one person to settle on another person's property."

The JNF currently has lands amounting to about 2.5 million dunams. The document, to which an affidavit by JNF chairman Yehiel Leket was appended, also noted that it is not funded by the government, that its assets were acquired through the contributions of tens of thousands of Jews throughout the Diaspora, and therefore "the JNF has a clear obligation to its donors" and was established to work for the good of the Jewish people only.

JNF lawyers argued that JNF ownership of land is completely separate from the state, according to the Basic Law on the People's Lands, "which authorized separate and independent ownership of JNF lands."

In response to the JNF, the petitioners' attorneys argued that the prohibition against discrimination applies to private organizations, as well as public authorities. In any case, they added, because the JNF carries out government functions, it cannot be seen as a private organization. The petitioners also noted that their petition was directed against a undisputedly public body, the Israel Lands Administration, which administers JNF lands and must market them equally to all citizens.

Backgrounder: JNF Land Bill for Jews Only

25 December 07

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