Abandoning Land to Arabs: First Stage of Next Withdrawal?, by Hillel Fendel (Israel national News)
Farm owner Yaakov Talia: “Even the Civil Administration admits that the Arabs can’t sufficiently prove it’s theirs – but the army gave it to them anyway. There is also other land nearby that is 100% mine – I have contracts with the State and the Settlement Department – and the Arabs and leftists came [today] into both these areas! They uprooted the zaatar and other protected bushes, and also the grains that I planted…”
Full Text;
Some 50 Arabs & leftists arrived at the Talia farm near Beit Yatir in southern Judea and proceeded, for several hours, to uproot growths and bushes. Jewish farmers cry out: “We’re losing our lands!”
The Arabs and far-left peace activists, after clearing the Jewish farm’s land, then proceeded to plant olive tree saplings there.
The farm is located south of Hevron and just east of the farm belonging to Shai Dromi, currently under house arrest for shooting and killing a Bedouin thief a month ago.
“I’ve been planting there for over 11 years,” Yaakov Talia, the owner of the farm, told Arutz-7 today, “but the army suddenly gave Arab claimants title to the land. Even the Civil Administration admits that the Arabs can’t sufficiently prove it’s theirs – but the army gave it to them anyway. There is also other land nearby that is 100% mine – I have contracts with the State and the Settlement Department – and the Arabs and leftists came [today] into both these areas! They uprooted the zaatar and other protected bushes, and also the grains that I planted – wheat, barley, clover and safflower. They then brought in hundreds of sheep to graze there, right in the areas I am in the middle of planting.”
Yochanan Sharett, who runs a neighboring farm named Magen David, provided extra details:
“When the leftists and Arabs came, the police arrived – but did nothing for three hours while waiting for the Civil Administration officials to come. Both the police and the Civil Administration knew about the planned provocation yesterday, but did nothing. Finally, the leftists and Arabs left merely because it started raining… The army came, and wanted to take some action, but received orders not to do anything. All this, even though the police know that there are concrete intelligence warnings against the lives of both Yaakov Talia and myself. The situation is very grave.”
“Talia’s farm received its authorization in 1995 from Yitzchak Rabin,” Sharett said, “and mine was approved in 1999 by Ehud Barak. Only the left-wingers give these authorizations… It’s not logical to assume that Rabin would approve a farm without giving it land! Yet still the Civil Administration takes away our land, saying that it’s their decision to give the land to whomever they want until the Supreme Court rules on the matter – whenever that is…”
“We had about ten quiet years here,” Sharett continued, “but then, just this past December, Central Commander Gen. Ya’ir Naveh signed the orders giving some of these areas to the Arabs – and since then, there have been at least 20 hostile Arab incidents against us. One time, eight Arabs surrounded me and tried to lynch me; the army finally came at the last minute, and managed to arrest only two of them. Another time, stocking-clad thieves tried to break into Talia – and many other cases, all of which only started after the Arabs were given some land.”
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The main instigators of the campaign against Jewish land-owners in the area, Sharett says, are the Rabbis for Human Rights organization, headed by Reform Rabbi Arik Asherman, the Arab Ta’ayush organization, and some American far-left peace-activists.
“A Civil Administration official told me,” Sharett said, “that this is essentially the first stage of the Convergence plan – the giving up of Judea and Samaria to the Arabs. Three people in [the neighboring Jewish community of] Susia have been having problems [similar to ours] with their land, and there is a plan to annul all the army’s land confiscation orders and give the land to Arabs. We’re losing our lands! Yes, it’s very important to bring more people here – but it’s even more important to make sure that we don’t lose the lands that we already have!”
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