Israel Matzav

One law for Tamra, another for Amona

About a day before the mounted policemen swooped down with cudgels on Amona's youngsters, Yesha leaders Bentzi Lieberman and Ze'ev Hever met Ehud Olmert. They asked him in the interest of public order and in an effort not to deepen the rift between the religious-Zionist public and government branches - courts, army and police - to prevent an evacuation by force.

We promise, they declared, that within a week, the houses condemned for demolition will no longer be in Amona. The acting prime minister rejected their request - arrogantly and condescendingly, they said. You want confrontation at any price, they said angrily. You want to turn us into enemies of the people and give yourself an image of a strong leader on the eve of elections. They told him that the situation after the pullout from Gush Katif is extremely sensitive, and should not be put to the test merely for election considerations. It could explode.

In those very days, the Israel Lands Administration's Galilee district began preparations for carrying out court orders to demolish a number of houses in Tamra and other Galilee communities, which were built illegally on state land. The date for demolishing one of the houses in Tamra was set for February 23, about a week before the parliamentary investigation committee began probing the violent events in Amona. But the house, like other condemned houses in Tamra, was not demolished. "Unfortunately, we cannot carry out demolitions in the Arab villages, because the police are not prepared to safeguard the process," ILA Northern District Director Gabi Weisman told Maariv.

Weisman's candidness tore the mask off the police, revealing that at the government's orders, they acted with violent firmness in Amona, but are abandoning, despite court orders, state lands in the Galilee and Negev to illegal construction. The state comptroller points this out in nearly every annual report. Maariv, which exposed the Tamra affair, quotes a senior ILA official as saying, "It's simply absurd. There is one law for Jews and another for Arabs."

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:39 PM