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Last update - 04:56 29/02/2008 Defend the High Court, regardless? By Israel Harel Tags: Peace Now, Migron, Israel The High Court of Justice was the object of a huge demonstration some years ago, perhaps the largest Israel has ever seen. It was initiated by the ultra-Orthodox, but many from the religious-Zionist community said they would participate. I issued a public call for them not to attend. The rage against the High Court was by then so profound, that my call was like a voice in the wind. Even though I saw clearly the direction - in my eyes, a post-Zionist one - that former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak and his cohorts were pulling toward, I decided that the court's status must be defended. But the demonstration and the fact that notable liberal figures also dared to speak out against judicial activism did not give rise to any second thought or restraint. On the contrary: Barak, together with organizations - who receive foreign funding - like Peace Now and Adalah continued to pull the court in the post-Zionist direction, and reacted spitefully. Advertisement In an interview in Yedioth Ahronoth, the minister of justice accused Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch of briefing journalists and Knesset members, with the latter returning to her as petitioners to the High Court of Justice. He also accused her of having Meretz and the Arabs as allies. The court's president and the minister's critics cried "incitement." Incitement? Journalists make no secret of the meetings. They almost boast about them in public. Some of them meet her at private events and call her by her first name. So do Knesset members, and not only from Meretz. Two Supreme Court justices attended a family event held by a Peace Now man. There were several dozen people there. The two justices were not related to the host. They arrived in spite - or because? - of the fact that the host had frequently appeared before them as a petitioner demanding they order the uprooting of settlements. Including Migron. My son Itai, a social worker, was taught from an early age to be honest, follow the path of justice and respect the state's institutions. He would not have settled in Migron in 1999, where he resided in a container that would heat up like a furnace in the summer and become freezing cold in the winter, had the land been privately owned. He was told the land was purchased legally, and he now has the relevant documents to prove this. Seven years later, Peace Now petitioned the High Court of Justice to order the settlement's evacuation, which it says has settled on private land. Thousands of citizens claim that their private land has been trespassed. They have but one address: the police. If the police determines that an infringement of private property has indeed occurred, the case is transferred to the Magistrate's Court. Only Peace Now enjoys the privilege of directly appearing before the High Court of Justice without having exhausted prior proceedings. The High Court is not the venue for a full legal discussion, where parties are required to present evidence. The High Court does not review evidence, so it did not allow Itai Harel to present documents proving that his home was built on land which had been legally purchased. And so Itai Harel was unable to show the court that the people whom Peace Now supposedly represented are, at best, making false claims. Yet the court still required that the state inform them when it would evacuate Migron. The answer was August. Around four years ago, 13 Jewish landowners asked the police to evict Arabs who had taken over their private lands and built there. The police, fearing a confrontation, dragged its feet for years. The land owners therefore asked the High Court of Justice to order the police to carry out its duty. Their petition was rejected. The court said the petitioners "did not prove that they were in de facto possession of the property and that the incursion was a recent and fresh occurrence." Beinisch presided on that bench, and on the bench that reviewed the petition on Migron. In Migron, even if trespass had occurred, the Arabs surely cannot prove "de facto possession of the property." The land in question is a barren hill which had never been cultivated or built on. It is far removed from any settlement, Arab or Jewish. And as for the argument that the land takeover was a recent and fresh occurrence, they surely cannot prove that. Unless, that is, the fact that because this event involves settlers, this can serve to make something that happened nine years ago "fresh and recent." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Power to the people Egypt plans to provide all of Gaza's electricity, to wean dependency on Israel. Calculated escalation Hamas has been trying for some time to create a balance of deterrence with Israel.   1.   Checks and Balances Needed Urgently 07:03  |  Sam 29/02/08   2.   The Day When Real Justice Prevails Is Coming 09:10  |  Yishai Kohen 29/02/08

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