Israel Police Prevent Use of Jewish-Owned Property in Jerusalem

Israel Police Prevent Use of Jewish-Owned Property in Jerusalem

On three occasions during the months of July and August representatives of Mountain Dwellers Ltd, a Jerusalem property company, attempted to perform construction and agricultural work in 180 hectares (45 acres) of private property under its management in the Eastern Gate (“Shaar Mizrach”) area of Jerusalem. Eastern Gate is located between the French Hill neighborhood and the Arab neighborhood of Anata in Jerusalem’s northeast corner, within the Jerusalem city limits. On each occasion Israeli police forcibly expelled the company’s representatives from the site, without warrant and apparently without legal grounds.

Part of Mountain Dwellers Ltd.’s property in Eastern Gate has been seized by the IDF for the purpose of constructing the security fence. Arab squatters have built illegal dwellings on another part, and Mountain Dwellers was forced to go to court to evict them, incidentally establishing in court its rights to the property in question.

Whenever Mountain Dwellers’ agents attempt to begin work on their property, the police follow a standard procedure: Mountain Dwellers’ agents are arrested and transported to the police station in Jerusalem Russian Compound. They are interrogated, left to cool their heels for several hours, and then released without charge. On the last occasion when this happened, August 20, a representative of Mountain Dwellers told police officers that they were trespassing without warrant on private land and insisted that the police leave. The representative was assaulted, transported to the Russian Compound, and charged with assaulting a police officer.

On July 31 Mountain Dwellers Ltd. filed suit in Israel’s High Court of Justice requesting a restraining order against the police to prevent the expulsion of its representatives from its land. The High Court of Justice, however, set a court date in March to consider Mountain Dweller’s suit. Mountain Dwellers has requested that the court bring forward the date so that it can get on with developing its property.

The prevention of a private property owner from developing his property within the Jerusalem city limits with no evident legal sanction represents a serious violation of private property rights. Police have provided no explanation of their interference in the matter, other than to tell representatives of Mountain Dwellers during interrogations that they (the police) acted to secure “public order.” Police reluctance to uphold rather than violate private property rights in Jerusalem may stem from their desire not to become involved in defending Jewish property rights in an area next to an Arab neighborhood. If so, it means that the police are prepared to use force to prevent Jewish owners from realizing their property rights rather than defend those rights from possible interference.