The IDF is refusing to clear an old Jordanian minefield near Tsur Baher in Jerusalem, where a school for the Arab neighborhood's children is supposed to be built.
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The IDF chief of staff's office sent a letter this week to Jerusalem's city hall saying that it is army policy not to clear minefields for civilian purposes "because of the risk to soldiers... especially when it is a foreign minefield that includes anti-personnel mines."
The decision not to clear the Jordanian minefield was made by General Headquarters even though the Central Command had approved a plan by a private company to clear the field. But Colonel Michal Yizthaki Shoshani, of the chief of staff's office, was highly critical of the city decision to build the 30-classroom school in an area that had mines and said the city should reconsider its plans.
City hall is furious at the army over the decision. Over the last four months, an architectural firm has worked out plans for a junior high school and elementary school, based entirely on aerial photographs of the site, because it is impossible to access it due to the mines.
Pepe Alalu, a Jerusalem city council member who went to the High Court 18 months ago to petition for more classrooms in East Jerusalem, is convinced the army's decision is part of the army's overall attitude toward Arabs in Israel. "Only a few days ago we saw in the Or Commission report how the security services regard Arabs in Israel," he said. "Now we can see the army's attitude toward Arabs in Jerusalem. East Jerusalemites fall through all the bureaucratic loopholes in the country."
Alalu noted that two years ago the army cleared a minefield at Har Adar, a Jewish community outside Jerusalem. The army confirmed the Har Adar site was cleared but rejected Alalu's claims about discrimination. According to a senior officer, the army also refused to clear minefields in the hotel district along the Dead Sea.
"The joke is that the city has a contractor who can clear the fields," said Aharon Ben-Nun, who heads the city's department of public buildings. "There's a plan approved by the Central Command and there's money to finance it. The army just has to give its final approval that the area is cleared."
There are two private companies that can clear land mines, but the IDF refuses to give the two companies clearance to work in Israel, even though the companies send staffers around the world clearing mines. The IDF says that even if the companies do the work, the army still has to risk the lives of soldiers sent to examine the work of the private companies.
Some 33,000 dunams are mined or suspected of being mined in Israel, West Bank and Golan, with 62 percent of the mines originally placed by the Syrian or Jordanian armies. "We don't know how to deal with such a large problem," an army source said this week. "We're aware that we appear to be trying to duck our responsibility but it's not true," he added.
The army wants private companies to handle the problem - without the army being responsible for inspecting the completed job.
Meanwhile, a bill originally planned by former Meretz MK Amnon Rubinstein, and now in the hands of Meretz MK Ran Cohen, would have one private company supervise another private company's work clearing minefields. The bill awaits the attorney general's approval
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