[E-rundbrief] Info 1578 - Israeli land robbery of Palestinian land

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 1578 - Gush Shalom (Israel): Vigil at Prime 
Minister’s Residence: “Say no to legalized land robbery!” The seizure 
of privately-owned Palestinian land.

Bad Ischl, 9.12.2016

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Gush Shalom (Israel)

Dec. 8, 2016

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/events/1464389870

Vigil at Prime Minister’s Residence: “Say no to legalized land robbery!”

Since Thur. Dec. 8, concerned Israeli citizens are holding a protest 
vigil outside the Prime Minister’s residence (corner of Aza and 
Balfour Streets, Jerusalem). They will stay there every day between 
10:00 to 17:00, during the coming week.

Through the Settlement Legalization Bill, which the right-wing Knesset 
majority is vigorously seeking, the seizure of privately-owned 
Palestinian land would be declared “legal”. The government’s own 
Attorney General as well as the Knesset’s legal counsel, have called 
it a manifestly illegal measure. So did the United States Government 
and the European Union leaders.

Knesset Member Benny Begin, son of the late PM, a lone voice of 
decency among government supporters, voted against this bill and 
called it “The Theft Law” (for which he was punished by the 
government). In the teeth of all protests, the government and extreme 
right go on with their campaign of steamrolling it through the 
successive stages of legislation. The initiators - Minister Bennett 
and MK Smotritch of “The Jewish Home Party”, make no secret of their 
aim – annexation of the West Bank and perpetuation of the Israeli 
oppressive rule over the Palestinians.

If this monstrosity is enacted into law, Israel’s Supreme Court is 
expected to annul it declare it to be in violation of basic human and 
civil rights. It might even come under the purview of the 
International Court at the Hague. But all that might take a long time, 
and we do not have the luxury of tolerating such an ugly blot on the 
Israeli Legal Code.

So, we are coming to make our protest loud and clear. We stand in the 
streets of Jerusalem, holding aloft the sign “No to the Land Theft 
Law! No to Annexation!” as well as Israel’s National Flag. There will 
be no banners of any specific political faction or formation – just 
those of Israeli citizens deeply anxious and concerned for the future 
of their country.

Among scheduled participants will be public figures such as Amos Oz 
and other writers; Uzi Baram, government minister in Yitzchak Rabin’s 
government; laureates of the Israel Prize; Shaul Givoli, who had been 
both an IDF Brigadier General and later an Israeli Police Comissioner, 
as well as Knesser Member Omer Bar-Lev, who before entering politics 
was the commanding officer of the Sayeret Matkal elite commandos.

Having been deeply involved in Israel’s political and cultural life as 
well as in the country’s armed forces, the protest’s initiators fully 
realize how deeply the government’s reckless policies not only 
endanger democracy, but also undermine the very foundations on which 
Israel was erected.

Contact: Naftali Raz, +972-54-5494172

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at
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