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Last update - 19:39 02/06/2008 Jerusalem's demolition derby By Meron Rapoport Tags: Israel, Jerusalem Leave the huge and illegal house that the settlers built in East Jerusalem alone, and we won't touch your authority. This, says the legal adviser of the Jerusalem Municipality, Yossi Havilio, was the deal offered him by the city's deputy mayor, Yehoshua Pollack. Havilio says he turned it down because the decision to demolish the house had already passed through all possible legal channels - including the High Court of Justice. The deputy mayor denies there was such a suggestion, but what is clear is that the authority of the legal adviser has been significantly undermined. It is not he, but rather political representatives on the city council who will decide which of the demolition orders will be implemented. The settlers' house in question is apparently at the bottom of their demolition list. The building is seven stories high and is located in the Silwan quarter of East Jerusalem. It was erected for the Ateret Cohanim settlers' association, which deals with "Judaizing" the eastern part of the city. The structure was built some five years ago without a permit and in contravention of the city's master plan, and all attempts to make it legal have failed. Two years ago, a local Jerusalem court decided that the building had to be sealed; a year ago, the Jerusalem District Court rejected an appeal by the occupants. Subsequently, the High Court of Justice refused to allow them to appeal again, and turned down their request to postpone the demolition. The Justice Ministry declared it was forbidden to hold up the process any further, and the police began preparing to destroy the house - but nothing has been sealed or destroyed. Havilio and members of the city council claim this is due solely to the pressure being applied by the settlers. Eight Jewish families live in the building, which the settlers call Beit Yehonatan, making it one of the largest Jewish outposts in the eastern part of the city. This is apparently the reason why such tremendous pressure is being wielded on law-enforcement agencies to prevent it from being sealed up - pressure from Knesset members on the right, from elements inside the municipality, members of the municipal council and even Mayor Uri Lupolianski himself. Advertisement Last Thursday, this pressure reached new heights. The city council, at the initiative of Lupolianski, convened and decided to change the order of priorities for executing demolition orders in the city. The decision was taken despite the fact Havilio stated "it is not in accordance with the law, the rulings of the courts, the instructions of the attorney general, or the basic precepts of law in Israel." The council's decision states that all demolition orders for buildings in public areas must be implemented first, and only afterward will such orders for structures in private areas be executed. According to this decision, no deviations from this arrangement will be permitted without the local building committee's approval. Deputy Mayor Pollack says the decision stems from a desire to clarify the criteria for implementing legal demolition orders, since, in the past few years, hundreds of such orders have been issued, but most have not been executed. He explains it is necessary to fix criteria "in accordance with the rules of transparency and equality, which the municipality is obligated to obey." He notes the decision rests on a legal opinion by the former legal adviser of the Interior Ministry, Yehezkel Levy, and that the municipality is permitted to base its decisions on such external legal opinions. However, in the eyes of legal adviser Havilio, this is an extremely problematic decision because it expropriates the authority over implementation of demolition orders from the hands of the courts and the municipal legal adviser, and transfers it to the local planning and building committee - which consists of representatives of political parties. "It is as if the public security minister would tell the police not to deal with murder cases until they have finished investigating all the cases of burglary first," says one legal source. "This is inconceivable." The real goal In a legal opinion he sent to the municipality, Hovav Artzi of the Justice Ministry's department for enforcing property laws, wrote that the local building committee can propose criteria for demolitions to the municipal legal adviser, but that the decision should remain in his hands alone. "It must be forbidden for elected representatives to give instructions about the way in which the prosecutor should act, and under no circumstances should the prosecutor take into consideration the political considerations of public representatives," Artzi explains, quoting the instructions of Attorney General Menahem Mazuz. But, according to Havilio, the real goal of the city council's decision is to prevent the implementation of the order to close down Beit Yehonatan. The building stands on private land and therefore, if the council's decision is implemented, it will be sealed only after the municipality finishes demolishing all the problematic buildings in public areas - "something which could take years or may never be completed," Havilio notes. He relates that direct pressure was brought to bear on him to prevent the execution of the order to seal up Beit Yehonatan, despite the fact that this directive was approved by every possible court. In a letter, Havilio states that the National Religious Party representative on the council, Yair Gabai, who submitted the draft decision, Pollack appealed to him not to implement the results of criminal proceedings concerning Beit Yehonatan. "In view of the text of the decision, the timing, and in view of other things that were said both at the local committee meeting and outside of it," Havilio writes, "there is a fear, at least so it seems, that the decision was aimed at preventing or holding up implementation of the orders in this case." City councillor Pepe Allalo (Meretz) says Havilio told him Pollack had even approached him with a direct proposal: "Havilio said that Pollack told him that if he left Beit Yehonatan alone, he would not interfere with his authority." Havilio reported that he had refused the offer. Pollack vehemently denies that he threatened the legal adviser. "I find it hard to believe that there is truth in these words, and the body that should deal with threats of this nature is the police," Pollack says, adding he never requested that Havilio halt the procedures against Beit Yehonatan. "The city council's decision refers to all the demolition orders and not specifically to one case or another." Allalo shares Havilio's fears. At a council meeting, he and his colleague in the Meretz faction, Netanel Saar, proposed that any changes in the way in which demolition directives are implemented should be applicable only retroactively - i.e., the new decision would not affect Beit Yehonatan. However, their proposal was "turned down with disgust." "When it comes to Ateret Cohanim or Beit Yehonatan, the rule of law does not exist," Allalo says. "After the court ruled that the settlers' association has to vacate the building, members of the association, with the help of the Jerusalem Municipality and political elements, are now trying to circumvent the courts via the local building committee." The Jerusalem Municipality's decision has created quite a tangle. On the one hand, there is Havilio, who is supported by the Justice Ministry and claims the decision to expropriate his authority to implement the demolition orders is illegal. On the other hand, there is the municipal council, particularly the deputy mayor, Pollack, who claims that the new "criteria" will determine demolition policy. "If the legal adviser wants to deviate from the criteria, he can turn to me and I shall examine the case," Pollack says. "But the criteria we fixed are binding on him - first public areas, then open areas and only at the end private areas." This wrangling, of course, has an effect on the fate of Beit Yehonatan. In a letter sent by Havilio yesterday to the director general of the municipality and the city engineer, he writes the police have already started preparing to implement the demolition directive on Beit Yehonatan, and that the supervisor of building in the municipality told him there is no budgetary reason to prevent implementing the order. However, Havilio adds, he was told that "various sources" - including Pollack - "are appealing to them not to carry out the orders, or to hold up their implementation. I wish to inform you that any instruction from a political source not to carry out the demolition is illegal." Pollack does not deny this. "I appealed to the director general and the city engineer, and explained to them the determining criteria are those decided by the city council. If they have a special case, they can appeal to me." It is superfluous to add that the seven-story building in Silwan is still standing. 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