A new petition concerning illegal Arab takeover of state land in eastern Gush Etzion was submitted by the Regavim Association to the Jerusalem District Court, the first such case under the new Administrative Courts Law.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked had initiated the law, which stipulates that the Jerusalem District Court will be authorized to hear administrative petitions on Judea and Samaria. The law is intended to normalize the legal situation of Judea and Samaria, and in effect erases the Green Line with regard to legal issues. More importantly, the District Court examines evidence while the Supreme Court hears both sides and makes its decisions. The law will also reduce the burden of the Supreme Court by removing hundreds of petitions from its agenda and erasing the backlog of cases.
The current petition states that in east Gush Etzion, adjacent to the Jewish town of Mezad, Arabs broke through state land and began to cultivate many acres of agricultural land, all with the help and funding of the European Union. A sign posted next to the illegal activity proudly displayed in the emblem of the European Union, which is also attached to an explanation of the development and agricultural work being carried out in the area.
"The intervention of the European Union in what is happening in Area C is a brazen and aggressive intervention," said Yishai Hamo, the Judea and Samaria coordinator for Regavim/ "We see extensive involvement on their part in lawbreaking and invading state land throughout Judea and Samaria. Their symbols are everywhere, and the State of Israel must respond to this blatant intervention on the diplomatic level as well."
Shlomo Ne'eman, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council: "The direct involvement of the European Union in financing Arab squatters in the territories and state lands has already become a plague on the state. We congratulate Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on the obvious step that has led to great logic and justice in reducing the burden on the Supreme Court and in uniform enforcement against the land grabs by hostile elements."
Ne'eman added that "the Arabs understand that the real battle is on the ground. Foreign countries with their money are trying to shape a false consciousness and finally change the map of the state, but nothing can change history and our natural belonging on our national land."