MUNICIPALITY OF EFRAT, ISRAEL, P.O.B. 1022, EFRAT,
ISRAEL 9043500
Letters to the EditorNew York Times
In response to your article "Israel Claims Nearly 1000
Acres of West Bank Land Near Bethlehem" Aug. 31, 2014, and the allegation that
the land is privately owned by Arabs, I would like to clarify the matter with
the following factual information:
In 1967, Israel became the sovereign authority in Judea
and Samaria. Preceding Israel was Jordan, who replaced the British in
1947. Before the British, the Turks ruled over the land of
Israel and controlled the land that over time had passed from one nation to the
next.
Today Judea and Samaria is being held by the Israeli
government which has inherited all the legal property rights. (Jordan occupied
Judea and Samaria between 1948 till 1967, but their occupation was only
recognized by Britain and Pakistan).
According to the Turkish land registration, there are
essentially two types of land – private land and State-owned land. The
government of Israel is very careful not to make any use of private land, and as
for State land, there is a long and complex public procedure that the government
undertakes before making use of State lands, and this is to make sure not to
harm any private person by depriving him of his rights.
The declaration publicized in the New York Times is
proof of this very public procedure and allows for anyone who feels himself
harmed to come forth and prove his rights to the land.
I would like to use this opportunity to make an
additional comment. In English it is customary to term the areas of Judea and
Samaria as "occupied territories". To those using this term, I would like to
ask, occupied from whom?
If we go back to the registration of rights from the
time that the Turks ruled, it is clear that there are private lands that were
registered as such and which the State of Israel does not dispute and does not
touch. On the other hand, to who do the State lands belong to? The Turkish
government does not claim their ownership and neither do the British. The
Jordanians, in their peace treaty with Israel, declared that they are
relinquishing any claim of ownership to the lands of Judea and
Samaria.
If we examine the declarations and decisions of the
United Nations and other bodies that preceded the UN, it can be proven that
these lands were designated for the State of Israel and as such, the State of
Israel is permitted to make use of these lands.
As pointed out above, the State of Israel exercises
extreme caution before making use of these lands (even though these lands have
been part of the historical Jewish State from Biblical times), and it would be
proper if those that attack and criticize her would have knowledge of the legal
foundations of the issue before voicing condemnations.
Sincerely, Oded Revivi, Esq., Mayor of Efrat, Israel
e-mail: mayor@efrat.muni.il
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