Bargain hunters head to the Civil Administration auction

Smashed caravan homes, sandbags, ceramic lions, gasoline containers and other items confiscated by the IDF's Civil Administration for illegal-use are all being auctioned off in the West Bank settlement of Beit El yesterday, and there is plenty of interest.

The strangest item on the site wasn't even for sale: a Sherman Tank turret stolen by a Ramallah metal vendor from Nabi Musa.

Still, there is plenty to choose from. "A new container from the Ashdod Port costs NIS 5,000-7,000, including transportation. Here I can get one for NIS 2,000 plus NIS 1,000 for transportation - half price," says Shahar Karni from Moshav Ora near Jerusalem, insisting he has a nose for bargains while walking around the muddy site looking for a large one that could serve as a storage room outside his house.

However, the demand for containers - whether for offices, housing or store rooms - is high and their prices soar accordingly. Karni settles for a few dozen ceramic vases and other items confiscated from a peddler who was selling them illegally.

A few dozen Arabs from Ramallah and settlers come to look for bargains. They examine a car used for moving things to an illegal outpost and two mobile homes smashed in the violent evacuation from another outpost.

A Civil Administration man accompanies whomever buys the mobile homes to the '67 border, to ensure they are not used for illegal housing again.

Also on sale are a truck scale from an illegal quarry, construction equipment, generators, a cement-processor, bricks, firewood and even a 1,000-liter gas container and pump confiscated from a pirate petrol station.

The goods can be returned to their owners if they pay the administration's expenses and promise not to use them again for illegal activity. In the case of a mobile home, however, that sum can reach several thousands of shekels, sometimes more than it's worth.

Unclaimed goods are sold and the proceeds go to the state. In three weeks the items that were not sold yesterday will be auctioned off again, for less. Items still unsold after that will be disposed of.

As for that tank turret, the army had been asked to take it back months ago, but as of yesterday nobody came. The unclaimed turret will be sold to a metal vendor soon and a Civil Administration official will make sure it's melted down.

Almost everything on display was sold. A mobile home outfitted with office equipment and toilet fetched NIS 7,900 from one of the settlers evicted from the Atzmona settlement, half the price of a new one.

Marwan Kisani of Jerusalem searches for a generator for NIS 3,000 to sell as scrap metal.

"What's the matter with you, it can be fixed," admonishes Farhi of Ramallah, who then slaps NIS 3,100 down on the table and takes the generator.

Gideon Hachmon of Ashdod, a transport business owner, buys the car from the outpost for NIS 300 and adds NIS 12,000 for a container, including a generator. For another NIS 11,000 he buys a 20,000-liter gasoline container.

"Amateur," says a merchant from Kfar Kara. "For NIS 12,000 you could buy a new one."