This is the third petition submitted by Peace Now during the past few months.  The earlier two petitions concerned the illegal construction carried out in the Amona, Haresha and Hayovel outposts.  As in previous instances, the reference is to serious and persistent violations of the Planning and Construction Law being carried out in broad daylight, where the offenders are consistently thumbing their noses at the legal system, consciously and criminally ignoring the authorities charged with enforcing the law.  However, in this instance, in contrast to the three locations referred to in the previous appeals, the reference is to construction of such an extent that it has been described by the legal counsel of the Upper Modi’in Local Council, Gilad Rogel, as “colossal”.

The grounds for the petition became clear during work carried out jointly by two organizations, B'Tselem and Bimkom, which resulted in a detailed report on the issue of the expansion of the settlement located to the West of the path of the separation fence, work which is carried out under the guise of constructing the fence.  In the report, entitled “Under the guise of security – expansion of settlements as an obstacle to the separation”, they show how sections of the path of the fence (which is constructed east of the Green Line) correspond to the outline plans and the master plans, parts of which never followed the legal procedures for approval.  The authors’ main argument is that this is completely counter to the government’s claim that these are security considerations and that in fact, the only considerations that led to determining the course of the obstacle were the development plans of the adjacent settlements.  In actual fact, the authors feel that these considerations were actually the determining factor for significant portions of the path, while security considerations were only an excuse used to cover this fact up. 

The construction of the course of the fence upon lands belonging to the Palestinian village of Bil’in, has, over the last two years, become a symbol of civilian (joint Palestinian and Israeli) protests against the construction of the course of the obstacle on private Palestinian lands.  However, alongside the work of the bulldozers that exposed and leveled the strip of land belonging to Bilin for construction of the fence, on which the course of the fence extended, work began on the construction of the East Matityahu quarter, the southernmost of the religious settlements in Upper Modi’in.

Following is a synopsis of the facts, as they appear on page 53 of the above report issued jointly by B’Tselem and Bimkom.
"The site of Outline Plan 210/8/1, known as Matityahu East and Nahalat Hephziba, is also situated within the jurisdictional area of Modi'in Illit and lies southeast of the settlement's built-up area. The land is owned by the Custodian and the non-profit organization Keren L'geulat Hakarka (Redemption of the Land Foundation). The organization is the project developer and the party that filed the plan. The plan covers 872 dunams, one-quarter of which is designated for the construction of 3,008 housing units. The plan also designates land for public buildings (135 dunams), a nature reserve (30 dunams), roads (126 dunams), future planning (100 dunams), and other uses. The plan is a revision of a previous plan for the site (Outline Plan 210/8), which was approved in November 1998, and enabled the construction of "only" 1,500 housing units.
The Supreme Planning Council discussed the plan in 2004 and recommended that it be deposited for the filing of objections. However, approval of the plan by the barrier's planners was halted because of uncertainty regarding the route of the separation barrier in the area. Eighteen months later, in September 2005, the Supreme Planning Council's subcommittee for settlement approved the plan. However, following the filing of a petition in the High Court against the barrier's route in this area, the State Attorney's Office directed the planners not to publish the plan, i.e., not to take the actions necessary to obtain approval of the plan.
However, in early 2004, construction began on the site, before the plan was approved and without building permits. Thirteen buildings eight- or nine-stories high, containing some 280 housing units, have already been built. In addition, the construction of twenty more buildings has begun. About one-quarter of the land designated for residential use is under construction. In response to Bimkom's question to the Civil Administration inquiring about the illegal construction taking place on the site, the Civil Administration stated that it had issued stop-work orders. In a visit to the site in September 2005, Bimkom and B'Tselem found that the work was moving ahead rapidly.”

Nevertheless, construction continued at full speed, until Wednesday, 4 January 2006, when the Peace Now petition was filed.  The criminal incompetence on the part of the supervisory and law enforcement authorities remained within the familiar norms - namely: nothing was done by the authorities to stop the illegal works. Unfortunately, dozens of construction sites throughout the West Bank, which, during recent years, has been the site of serious construction violations, continue to operate without a murmur.  To demonstrate, however, the very opposite behaviour of “the legal authorites” when Palestinian construction is involved, the residents of the adjacent village of Bil’in placed a container and an “illegal” structure on their own private land.

Following is the story of the container and the building that the local Palestinians erected, as stated in the body of the Peace Now petition:
“On 22.12.2005, a number of members of Peace Now from the village of Bilin and Israel placed a container on the private land of one of the village’s residents, located on the border of Plan 210/8/1, approx. 100 meters beyond the last of the homes that have been built illegally, as stated above.
The Bilin council decided to approve the establishment of the “Center for the Joint Battle for Peace” on the piece of land on which the container was placed.
The next day, on 23.12.2005, a force of approx. 150 soldiers arrived and using a crane which had been rented especially for this purpose, removed the container from the site on the pretext that “there was no permit to transport the container”.
The reference here is to private land, whose owner agreed to the placement of the container, where the local council had decided to permit the placing of the container, but since there was no permit from the Civil Administration to transport the container – the reaction of the law enforcement elements was as swift and sharp as a razor!
After another attempt to place a container – and following, for the second time, a rapid reaction on the part of the authorities, the residents of Bilin erected a small block building on the plot of land.  The building was constructed during the night between 25 and 26 December 2005.  At 08:57, on 26 December 2005, some three hours after the structure had been built, an inspector arrived on behalf of the Civil Administration and issued a stop work injunction for the building, where, among others, it was stated that a hearing on the request for a demolition order would take place in Beit El on 5 January 2006.
Presto, once again, like magic, law enforcement was more efficient and more rapid than in the State of Israel itself!  One hundred meters separate East Matityahu and the “Center for the Joint Battle For Peace” in Bilin.  But the difference is not in the distance; the difference is in the national origins of the violators of the law.”

There is no need to expand on the issue of the dangers inherent in a situation where the law is enforced on the basis of nationalism or any other affiliation.  Peace Now intends to continue to fight, in every way possible, the law enforcement vacuum that has prevailed on the West Bank these last decades with regard to violations perpetrated by the settlers.  This petition is another stratum in this struggle.

To view the petition in its entirety - click here.

Links to a number of attendant documents:
Letter (in Hebrew) dated 1.8.04 from Shlomo Moskowitz, Chairman of the Supreme Planning Committee, to the Head of the Upper Modi’in Council, where he accuses him of neglect with regard to the illegal construction – click here.
Letter (in Hebrew) dated 9.3.05 from Gil’ad Rogel, legal counsel of the Upper Modi’in Local Council, accusing the Council’s architect, Arieh Peer, of not fulfilling his obligations to enforce the law against companies carrying out illegal construction on the site – click for page 1, click for page 2.
Reply of 10.3.05 from the Council’s architect, Arieh Peer to Gil’ad Rogel, legal counsel, wherein he rejects Rogel’s accusations – click for page 1, click for page 2.
Document dated 14.3.05 from the Council comptroller, Shmuel Heisler, wherein he points to all of the serious lapses in the Council’s functioning regarding the handling of the illegal construction – click for page 1, click for page 2.

For a collection of reviews of the issue as they appear in Haaretz – click here.

For the Supreme Court’s decision of 6.1.06 (document in Hebrew) – click here.

On January 12, 2006, the Court ruled that all construction should be halted immediately and forbid populating the already completed buildings until further notice (document in Hebrew) - click here.

For the letter sent to the bank controller regarding bank credit for illegal construction in the East Matityahu Quarter - click here.

On March 15, 2006 during the Supreme Court's debate, state prosecutor announced that there was not to be any continuation of construction in the neighborhood of Maytityahu East, in addition they would be investigating the option of opening a criminal case against those involved in the construction already taken place.
The debate was heard by the judges Aharon Barak, Ayala Procaccia and Eliezer Rivlin, and dealt with the request by the various building contractors to annul a court order, issued by Judge Procaccia upon the submission of the Peace Now petition, halting all construction immediately and forbidding populating the already completed buildings until further notice.

On March 21, the court issued an interim order requesting the state to prepare within 30 days an explanation why the illegal units not be demolished and a criminal case opened against those responsible who issued illegal construction permits.
For the order (in Hebrew) - click here.

On January 11, 2007 - The Supreme Court ruled that the construction companies involved in continuing construction in the Matityahu East Neighbourhood of Modi'in Illit should be fined a sum of 100,000 NIS. This is due to the construction continuing despite an order to halt all.

On September 9, 2007 the Supreme Court rejected the petition. Although it is recognised that the construction took place without the necessary permits, the houses will be allowed to be populated and will not be destroyed. Construction will even be allowed to continue in the direction of the new Separation Fence to be built there.
For the court decision (in Hebrew) - click here