With elections just two weeks away, Rabbi Ascherman, president and senior rabbi of RHR, shares his thoughts on Purim and the importance of knowing the difference between wrong and right.

“So, on this Purim, amid all the frivolity acknowledging the absurdity in life, let us not forget that only one day a year, are we told to lose the ability to distinguish between Mordechai and Haman. The rest of the year, ‘I didn’t know’ isn’t an acceptable excuse.” PHOTO: “Teatr zydowski march2009″ by Kotoviski photograph by Henryk Kotowski – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

By: Rabbi Arik Ascherman

Last year I wrote in my “Purim Thoughts”:

Nahafokh hu – we say that everything is topsy turvy on Purim.   We confront a world so opposite the one we would like to live in, where our fate is dependent on the whims of a drunken potentate. We laugh, and maintain faith that the tables will turn. At the risk of being way too serious for Purim (again), I wonder whether our faith can lead us to look at the world as it is, and find the way to help God turn things around to the way they should be. God doesn’t overtly act in the Book of Esther. People do. “

I don’t think I can come up with anything better or more appropriate this year, two weeks away from elections. The first thing we need to turn around is ourselves. There are many in the community of human rights supporters who don’t vote. I can think of many reasons for this, but I suspect a big one is that people don’t think it makes a difference. Ten days before his death, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel concluded what I believe was his last recorded interview with a message for young people, a message true for all of us and appropriate for Purim:

I would say to young people a number of things, and I have only one minute. I would say let them remember that there is a meaning beyond absurdity. Let them be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power, and that we do, everyone, our share to redeem the world, in spite of all absurdities, and all the frustrations, and all the disappointment. And above all, remember that the meaning of life is to live life as if it were a work of art.

If we can turn ourselves around, and believe in the power of our very little deed, than we can begin to turn our reality around. Wherever we live, we need to vote, and vote for the parties that we believe will not be corrupt (across the political spectrum there is a tendency in Israel to ignore corruption among politicians who share our opinions on key issues) and will honor God’s Image in every human being.

There has been a great deal of discussion during this campaign of public housing and other socioeconomic justice issues. This is positive. However, we in RHR are asking all of Israel’s parties to tell voters what their positions are on some of the other issues we work on, such as Palestinian human rights, African asylum seekers and our Negev Bedouin citizens. (If you didn’t see them, please click here for Nicholas Kristof’s column last Sunday on our work with the Bedouin, and  here for last Wednesday’s column mentioning our work to return Palestinian lands to their owners.) The questionnaire can be read here (link coming soon). Since we have limited ourselves to issues we deal with, it is by no means exhaustive even for Israel, and obviously is not the questions those of you living abroad need to be asking of your politicians. Make your own sets of questions, and make your own inquiries, but bring human rights and God’s Image with you into the voting booth.

You can also find links to the platforms of the various parties on the Shatil website here (many of the parties also include their platforms in English)

On the website of “Knesset Ptukha” you can research how MK’s voted on various issues (Hebrew) 

On the one hand, there can be a huge gap between what parties write on their platforms, and what they actually do. On the other hand, parties that voted one way when they were in the opposition may vote entirely differently if they are in the ruling coalition.

On the “HaMishmar HaKhevrati” website you can find eyewitness descriptions of Knesset debates on various subjects (Hebrew)

Elsewhere on their websites, both organizations have various forms of ranking parties, or allowing you to figure out which parties have positions closest to yours. I am not providing links to those pages because that is not within RHR’s mandate. You can find similar pages on the websites of organizations across the political spectrum.

So, on this Purim, amid all the frivolity acknowledging the absurdity in life, let us not forget that only one day a year (Well, two, because of Shushan Purim), are we told to lose the ability to distinguish between Mordechai and Haman (Ad d’lo yada). The rest of the year, “I didn’t know” isn’t an acceptable excuse. There is a difference. There is meaning beyond the absurdity. Our deeds and words do count. Every vote, and every conversation with those who don’t agree with us a priori, can tip the scales. And, we are responsible:

Just as the Torah mentions the fact that the ger (the non-Jew accepting the seven noachide commandments, and living among us) has no power, it also mentions the orphan and the widow, who are Israelites, but have no power…After the Torah says, ‘And you shall not oppress‘ in the plural, it says ‘If you shall oppress’(in the singular) For, anybody who sees somebody opressing the orphan or the widow and does not aid them, s/he is also thought of as one who is oppressing. ‘And if you do oppress them.’ And here is the punishment. If one person mistreats and nobody comes to help out, the punishment is collective…(Ibn Ezra to Exodus 22: 20-22).

Wherever we live, not voting and not engaging others is a form of seeing oppression and standing idly by.

Chag sameach

Arik

RELATED: Archive of RHR posts on the upcoming elections

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As elections draw closer, we have been pleased to note that there has been a great deal of discussion regarding  public housing and other socioeconomic justice issues. However, we in RHR are asking all of Israel’s parties to tell voters what their positions are on some of the other issues we work on, such as Palestinian human rights, African asylum seekers and our Negev Bedouin citizens.  The questionnaire can be read below. Since we have limited ourselves to issues we deal with, it is by no means exhaustive even for Israel

Questionnaire for Political Parties

Occupied Territories

Beyond the political questions, there are many questions regarding how Israel honors the rights of Palestinians living over the Green Line. Among them, are the rights of Palestinian farmers to safely work their lands and to put a roof over their heads.

1. Since local and district Palestinian planning committees were abolished in 1971, the Civil Administration of the army is responsible for building and zoning plans in Palestinian villages. (Since the Oslo Accords, only in Area C.) There are villages in which the plans have not been updated since the British mandatory period, others for which the Civil Administaration has created new plans, and villages that have submitted their own programs. However, the situation is that basically it is almost impossible in Area C or in East Jerusalem to build legally. Many build without permits. The CA demolishes hundreds of homes a year in Area C alone. This creates great hardship and many humanitarian tragedies. Our understanding of the Jewish tradition, internationally accepted planning standards, international law and common sense all indicate that the population being planned for must have a serious influence on the planning process. Therefore, RHR appealed to the High Court in order to request that the local and district communities be restored. In a High Court discussion in April, the judges were reluctant to force the State to implement our suggested remedy, but one of the judges indicated that there was nothing wrong with our solution, should the State decide to implement it. We know than there are those within the Attorney General’s office who believe that it would be correct for the State to accept our demands. This possibility was also mooted in the Oslo Accords, but never implemented.

What does your party suggest in order to ensure the right to shelter for every person under our rule?

2. In 2006 the Israeli High Court ruled that the Israeli security forces must protect the right of Palestinian farmers to safely access all of their lands. Since then many farmers are accessing lands they didn’t succeed in accessing for many years previously. However, the High Curt also ruled that it was the responsibility of the security forces to prevent trees from being cut down in the middle of the night and bring perpetrators to justice. There has been no progress in these matters.

3. The Sasson report recommended the creation of a more effective tool to prevent the takeover of Palestinian land. The report indicated that the tools that had existed at the time, going to court or trying to be the first to register land ownership, were inadequate because they required much time, money, etc. A new tool was created. The Legal Advisor of the Civil Administration was authorized to declare land as privately owned Palestinian land for up to 5 years after the takeover. He could then order the local commander to evict the trespassers and protect the landowners when they wished to access their land. RHR has successfully used this tool to return lands to their rightful owners. Today, because of pressure to cancel this procedure, the Legal Advisor is hesitant to use it.

4. According to the Ottoman law Israel has adopted in Area C, if somebody contiguously works lands for ten years, they become his/hers. This is true, even if somebody else has proof of ownership and the one who has taken over the land has no such proof. In many cases Israeli citizens use force to prevent Palestinians from working their lands, begin to work it themselves, and eventually claim it to be theirs. The High Court has ruled that it would be more appropriate if the person who trespasses on land that was not abandoned cannot register it in his name.

5. What does your party suggest to ensure the rights of Palestinian farmers to safely work their lands?

Combating Poverty

Today many thousands of Israelis are waiting for public housing, while others living in poverty are not deemed eligible because of irrelevant criteria.

1. Does your party support increasing the supply of public housing departments? If so, how many?

2. Does your party prefer public housing or rent subsidies?

3. What is your position regarding the eligibility criteria for public housing? Would you change them, and how?

4. What is your party’s position regarding the decision to dissolve most of the public housing corporations, and to transfer all public housing to Amidar?

5. Does your party advocate for integrating public housing in new housing projects? What percentage?

6. Do you support the establishment of a national benchmark for reducing poverty in Israel. If so, what benchmark will you try to set?

7. Does your party support the creation of a mandatory and funded program with clear benchmarks, tests and interim goals in the fight against poverty?

8. Does your party support the creation of a directorate to monitor, plan and ensure the implantation of programs to fight poverty?

9. Will your party commit to acting transparently by providing a constant flow of information to the public and Knesset regarding the progress of the above mentioned programs?

10. Does your party support the idea that every policy suggestion or legislation will include a study of the expected impact on people living in poverty?

11. Does your party establish the creation of a body or protocol that will allow people living in poverty to be meaningfully involved in the decisions regarding the fight against poverty?

Negev Bedouin

What does your party suggest doing to solve the problem of the “unrecognized villages,” and the overall distress of the Negev Bedouin?

Please address the following issues:

1. The transfer of Bedouin from villages to townships can be expected to increase unemployment by 4, according to National Insurance Institute Statistics.

2. Almost all unrecognized villages in the north have been recognized and this has created positive feelings of the Bedouin towards the state, in sharp contrast to the situation in the south.

3. Most of the Jewish population in Israel thinks that the Bedouin demands are fair, and opposes the Prawer plan, once they know that those demands are only for 5% of the Negev.

4. In 1920 the pre-State Zionist movement listed 2.6 milion dunam as belonging to the Bedoun, some 90,000 of which was cultivated. Today the outstanding claims are to 650,000 duman. Another 200,000 were lost in courts and in arbitration because today the state doesn’t recognize the traditional ownership documents that the pre-State Zionist movement, the Ottomans and the British Mandate recognized.

5. In 2007 the Goldberg commsion recommended recognizing as much as possible the unrecognized villages, and investing in them in order to bring the Bedouin up to an acceptable standard of living. The Prawer Committee was set up in order to implement Goldberg, but came to very different conclusions. Former Minister Benny Begin made slight changes and brought the plan as a legislative proposal to the Knesset, but it was frozen in late 2013. Since then, Minister Shamir has been working on new recommendations. Today there is one Bedouin city and 6 townships. There are 11 recognized villages, and 35 unrecognized villages. They all are larger than the minimum size Israel requires. The are all located where they were before the State was founded, or where the State moved them.

6. The Regional Council of Unrecognzied Villages, together with “Bimkom,” has prepared an alternative zoning plan that allows all the 35 villages to be recognized, while adhering to the accepted planning norms.

7. The State has budged funds to implement the goal of developing the Bedouin sector, but most of those funds have been invested in the creating of the “Yoav” police unit to enforce the law in the Bedouin sector.

Therefore

1. What in your party’s opinion is the proper way to solve disagreements between the State and the Bedouin community? Please address both the process and specific ideas.

2. What is your party’s position regarding the Goldberg recommendations, the Begin/Prawer Plan, and the alternative plan of the Regional Council and Bimkom?

3. As mentioned above, the heart of the conflict between the State and the Bedouin community is that, in contradiction to the past, the State doesn’t recognize traditional Bedouin land ownership documents. Will your party support legislation that would give legal status to the Bedouin land ownership system?

Refugees and Asylum seekers

International law states that no state is obligated to inundate itself with asylum seekers, but neither can it close its borders to those claiming to be fleeing for their lives. In order to determine who is truly deserves refugee status and who does not, techniques called “RSD” are used around the world. Israel practically doesn’t use these techniques, and the percentage of those asylum seekers who receive refugee status is one of the lowest in the world. Today, there is a great concentration of asylum seekers in locations such as South Tel Aviv because the prohibitions forbidding them from from working and lack of accessible services in other places pushes them to there. This causes great distress for the veteran residents as well. Israel created a detention facility and the High Court ruled against it. Israel created an “open” detention facility, and again the High Court ruled against it. Today, there is an appeal against Israel’s third attempt. Since Israel built a fence very few asylum seekers manage to enter into Israel. There is no longer the danger of “inundation.”

1. What does your party suggest as a way to relieve the distress of asylum seekers, veteran citizens, and those that the fence currently prevents from seeking asylum in Israel?

2. Is your party in favor of properly implementing RSD? If no, why?

3. Is your party in favor of continuing to imprison asylum seekers in detention facilities?

4. Is your party in favor of giving education and teaching skills to asylum seekers in order to assist them when they can return to their countries?

5. A few years ago the Canadian Justice Minister offered Israel to absorb asylum seekers that had come to Israel, on the condition that Israel conducted RSD and send those who had received refugee status. Israel declined at the time. There have been repots that Israel has sought out third countries for asylum seekers, but it turns out that these were countries that either did not want or were not able to guarantee their welfare and safety. Is your party in favor of finding suitable third countries that are willing and capable of absorbing asylum seekers, and is your party willing to commit to not expelling asylum seekers to other countries? In order to find an appropriate third country, in addition to conducting RSD, Israel would likely need to commit to absorbing some number of refugees. Is your party willing to commit to absorbing refugees? How many?

MORE FROM RHR ON THE MARCH 2015 ELECTIONS

INTERACTIVE FEATURE FROM HAARETZ ON THE DIFFERENT PARTIES

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On Tuesday, March 3rd, a settlement security coordinator, apparently from the settlement of Nokdim, attempted to intimidate Palestinian land owners during a coordination with the army near the settlement of Eldad. Upon arrival at the scene, he demanded to see the IDs of the Palestinians, which he also collected.

The security man was not authorized to act there since the location is out of his jurisdiction and authority.

This security man is the same one who on December 22 2014  assaulted other land owners around Nokdim.  A complaint was filed in that incident to the police. As of today, more than two months after the event, nothing has been done about this security coordinator who seems to believe he is the Lord of the Land, granted the right to do as he see fits without any consequences from the authorities in charge.

The post He who casts fear: Security coordinator from Nokdim does as he pleases appeared first on Rabbis for Human Rights.

This Sunday, join the Tag Meir Coalition as they pay a solidarity visit to the Palestinian village of Murayer, where extremists recently torched cars and scrawled racist graffiti. Together, we will show them the true face of Judaism – compassion, and love for our neighbors.

This time, we plan to bring smiles to the faces of children and adults alike with a theatrical performance!

The post SUNDAY – Stand against racism with the Tag Meir Coalition appeared first on Rabbis for Human Rights.

The following press release  comes from Operation Dove, an Italian NGO that focuses on the South Hebron Hills.

From Operation Dove:

Settlers and Israeli authorities continue to chase away Palestinians from their own lands.

 March 13, 2015

At Tuwani – South Hebron Hills, West Bank

On the morning of March 12, Israeli police arrested a Palestinian shepherd from At Tuwani village as he grazed his flock in the valley of Meshaha, near to the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on.

At about 11 am, two Israeli soldiers came out from the outpost of Havat Ma’on and they stopped a Palestinian shepherd that was grazing his flock on Meshaha valley, accompanied by International volunteers. The soldiers held the shepherd’s documents until the arrival of the police, at about 12:15 pm. The Israeli police collected the charges from one settler, that witnessed the shepherd grazing his flock in a forbidden area. Although the mediation of the lawyers and the request of DCO intervention, in order to clarify the status of the challenged lands, the police decided to arrest the shepherd. At about 1:30 pm, the shepherd was taken to Kyriat Arba police station and he was released at about 4 pm.

The Palestinian lands in front of Havat Ma’on outpost, which is considered illegal also under Israeli law, are object of the outpost expansion. The Israeli authorities prevent the Palestinians from accessing their own lands, even when they try to respect the unlawful restrictions imposed by the occupying forces. It shows the specious nature of these measures focused on the expropriation de facto of the Palestinians lands.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the incident: http://goo.gl/9A5fsU

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

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As elections approach, each day we will be asking a different question that no party has addressed yet concerning human rights.

Today’s question deals with the Bedouin:

Does your party support legislation empowering Israeli courts to honor the traditional Bedouin land ownership system?

OVERVIEW OF  PARTY POSITIONS ON THE BEDOUIN

How does your party balance between international law’s and Jewish history’s demand that we not close our borders to refugees fleeing for their lives, and international law’s understanding that no country is obligated to inundate itself with refugees?

READ THE DIFFERENT PARTY POSITIONS ON THE ISSUE OF ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES

Is your party willing to implement the RCUC/Bimkom alternative plan recognizing all 35 unrecognized villages?

Will your party commit to making all those living under the poverty line eligible for public housing? How about automatically updating realistic rental subsidies for everybody on the waiting list?

COLLECTION OF RECENT ARTICLES ON HOUSING ISSUES (HEBREW) 

How does your party propose to provide debt relief for those living in poverty?

TO HEAR WHAT THE PARTIES HAVE TO SAY ABOUT POVERTY (HEBREW) 

Does your party join over 400 rabbis in supporting withdrawing State opposition to RHR’S planning appeal? Accepting our recommendations could end the humaniarian tragedy of administrative home demolitions.

READ MORE ABOUT RHR’S PLANNING APPEAL 

SEE THE PETITION HERE

READ MORE FROM RHR ON VOTING WITH HUMAN RIGHTS IN MIND 

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Last week, on Purim (March 5 2015), cars were torched and racist graffiti scrawled on a home in the Palestinian village of Murayer. In response, the Tag Meir Coalition organized a solidarity visit with the village yesterday (March 15 2015), which included an amazing theater performance for the children (and adults!). 

We thank all who came out for the event and showed the residents of Murayer a different side of Judaism – one that is compassionate and caring!

RELATED: Additional information on Tag Meir

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The following press release  comes from Operation Dove, an Italian NGO that focuses on the South Hebron Hills.

PRESS RELEASE | MARCH 17th 2015

From Operation Dove:

At Tuwani – On March 17,  around 4 pm, Israeli soldiers detained a group of 10 Palestinian young men that were harvesting seasonal herbs in a Palestinian land near to the Israeli illegal outpost of Mitzpe Yair. After one hour the Israeli police arrived and arrested four of the Palestinians, taking them to Kiryat Arba police station.

March is the month in which Palestinians harvest this kind of herbs. Since the settlers, supported by Israeli forces, are attempting to annex the Palestinian land, even the simple activity of collecting herbs become dangerous, especially when the fields are located near to the Israeli settlements and outposts.

In the last two weeks International volunteers witnessed several settler’s attacks, army harassment and even arrest against Palestinians harvesting herbs on their own lands.

RELATED: Israeli police arrest Palestinian shepherd in South Hebron Hills

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65 olive saplings uprooted between Turmus Aya and Adei Ad outpost

Photos: Zakaria Sadah, Rabbis for Human Rights

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Join us as the High Court hears our petition to return planning rights to Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank.  By allowing Palestinians to plan their own communities, the plague of administrative housing demolitions will effectively end. The discussion will be held in the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem, at 10am, on April 12th. Please join us and show  the world we are watching!

RHR’s legal team has been working on this petition for a decade, submitting it in April of 2011, and finally having it heard at the High Court in April of 2014. Instead of trying to prevent demolitions on a case-by-case basis, this petition intends to stop the discriminatory policy itself which allows demolitions to occur in the first place. This can be done by returning planning rights in Area C to the Palestinians themselves.

At the April hearing, the judges indicated they would not force the State to restore the local and district planning committees; however, they made it clear that the current situation of discrimination, lack of representation, and continual human tragedy is unacceptable. The decision ordered the State to propose, within ninety days, institutionalized ways to facilitate participation of local Palestinians in Area C in the planning processes that affect their lives. As we had feared, the government submitted a “fig leaf” proposal. This response was a proposal to institutionalize consultations that are already taking place in many cases and have not significantly altered the situation. RHR responded by submitting a critique of their proposal. For us, only a response that gives the Palestinians true say in the planning of their own communities is acceptable.

Round-up of media reports from our April 28th hearing

Additional information from RHR on petition

Facebook event here

 Over 400 rabbis support RHR’s petition to restore planning rights in Area C to Palestinians

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Below, please find human rights related supplements by Rabbis for Human Rights for your Passover seder. There are three parts: “Who sits with us at our seder,” “The Four children at the seder table: Which child am I?” and “Commentary to the Torah by Rabbi Samson Rapael Hirsch.” We encourage you to use all or as little as you choose. They are available for download and are also copied below.

OPTIONS FOR DOWNLOAD, EITHER AS PDF OR WORD DOC, AND FOR PRINT ON A4 OR LETTER

A4 (Israel) – pdf: RHR Haggadah supplements

A4 (Israel)- word document: RHR Haggadah supplements

Letter (USA)-pdf: RHR Haggadah supplements

Letter (USA)- word document: RHR Haggadah supplements

WHO SITS WITH US AT OUR SEDER?

Eloheinu v’Elohei Kadmoneinu (Avoteinu, Avoteinu vEmoteinu), our God and God of our ancestors, we are gathered around this seder table as b’nei khorin, free people commanded to remember our dark nights of oppression. Your Torah warns us never to become oppressors ourselves, reminding us, “For you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Yet, when we are honest with ourselves, we know that we have been Pharaoh to other peoples, and to the disadvantaged among our own people. Our awareness that, “In every generation there are those who arise to destroy us” often causes us to harden our hearts, perceive hatred where it does not exist and justify the oppression of others.

We therefore turn to You, as in days of old. Stand with us, so that our fears not rise up to be our taskmasters. Help us to banish Pharaoh from our hearts, and let the rest of humanity in.

With Pharaoh at bay, we are better able to perceive the desecration of Your Image found in every human being. As with the plagues of old, our joy is diminished when we hear of those whose lives remain embittered. “Hashata Avdei,” “This year we remain slaves because of their oppression.” We remove additional drops of wine from our cup of celebration and renew our commitment to winning their freedom, thereby completing ours. We make room in our hearts and at our table for: (Choose one or more. One person can read out loud, and all participants can read the final line together)

The Displaced Child They shift through the rubble of their demolished homes, looking for a favourite toy. They wet their beds at night and their grades plummet. Their drawings and dreams are filled with bulldozers, soldiers, rubble and tears. They have lost faith in their parents, who were not able to protect them. Their families have been demolished, along with their homes. There are four children in our Passover seder, but well over forty thousand have been made homeless over the years in Area C, East Jerusalem and inside Israel because of discriminatory planning denying their families the opportunity to build legally. On April 12th, still Passover for those who celebrate eight days, Israel’s High Court will resume deliberations on RHR’s petition to end this desecration of God’s Name. (RHR’s current petition is regarding Area C only.)

Tonight we read of four children, but all children are in our hearts. We offer them a spot at our table & pray they’ll be in the hearts of Israel’s High Court judges, leaders & military officers.

Poverty: Roi (fictitious name) Roi has lived on the fringes for many years, some of them homeless in a tent. Mentally disabled and unable to work for many years, the National Insurance Institute was sending bills to the wrong address, and he didn’t know that the unemployed were obligated to pay. NII is now demanding a payment of NIS 50,000 for missed payments going back to 1996, plus interest. Roi finally has rent assistance and is soon to receive a disability stipend They are barely enough to live on,but NII wants part of Roi’s disability payment. Roi is not alone in his struggle. An unforgiving system leads many Israelis to fall into debts they cannot repay

Once we were slaves to Pharaoh forced into crushing labor. This year many of our people are slaves to crushing debt. As we tell their story, we commit to ending their degradation.

Sheikh Sayakh: His village is no more. He sleeps on the ground near where his home once stood, or in jail cells when repeatedly arrested for “trespassing” on his own land. The sheikh and a handful of family members store their meager belongings among the gravestones of the El-Araqib cemetery and seek donations for food, building materials and enormous legal expenses. Yet, El-Araqib’s resistance through 82 demolitions has perhaps staved off similar designs on tens of “unrecognized” Negev Bedouin villages. Sheikh Sayakh says that those Israeli Jews who support El-Araqib help give him strength.

Our sages ask what gave our ancestors strength, and how much longer they could have survived Egyptian oppression. Tonight we pledge our support for El-Araqib, and all of Israel’s Bedouin citizens.

Sarah (fictitious name)Sara has two children from two abusive marriages and is incapable of working. She is told she must choose between alimony and unemployment insurance, and is ineligible for public housing because single parents must have three children. With an additional pittance of rent subsidies, she dwells in a dark endless cycle of renting apartments she cannot afford and eviction every few months.

Tonight, as we sing Adir Hu and dream of the day when God’s house will be built, we know that first our national home must have a home for all.

Haj Mahmud: This year alone, Haj Mahmud has discovered 1,000 of his olive trees brutally cut down or uprooted. Altogether, the villagers of Turmos Aya discovered 5,000 sprawled on the ground. Time after time. Nobody apprehended. Grimly they watch Israelis approaching from the Adei Ad outpost to block their tractors and chase them from their lands. Sometimes soldiers back the settlers, while in other cases they don’t show up or stand idly by.

We know Haj Makhmud’s pain tonight, as we eat kharoset recalling the mortar used by our ancestors to build cities they would never enjoy. We will plant new trees and pray that together we will enjoy their fruit.

African refugees. Again, Israel’s High Court struck down the law allowing African refugees to be imprisoned for the crime of fleeing for their lives. Again, the Knesset approved a new law. The detained are the lucky ones. A fence prevents most from crossing our border. Now Israel wishes to deport them to countries that don’t want them.

As we open our doors to invite all who are hungry to come and eat, we remember the many doors closed to us over long years of persecution. As we await Elijah, the empty seat next to us waits for those who our fences prevent from arriving.

Ayad (Fictitious Name) In one fell swoop the ELAD settler group took over 25 Silwan East Jerusalem homes in one morning, using a series of straw buyers to cover their tracks, and creating facts on the ground before they could be stopped. Ayad doesn’t know how many families knowingly or unwittingly sold their homes, but he knows that his family had created a legal contract to ensure that no one family member could sell. Nevertheless, he too woke up to find that settlers had broken down a wall and taken over part of his family compound. Stunned, he and his family have turned to Israeli courts. But, they have no faith in Israeli justice. Our sages teach that we were enslaved with avodat farekh, deceptive words.

Tonight we recall how the Egyptians “dealt wisely” with us, and we had no recourse. We renew our determination to cease doing to others what was done to us.

Gazans and Israelis of the Western Negev. Two thousand Gazans and 72 Israelis dead. All ravaged by war. Israelis and Palestinians alike assume that the next war is just a matter of time. The justice of self defence blinds Israelis to God’s Image in Gazans, while the justice of resisting occupation and blockade blinds Gazans to God’s Image in Israelis.

Tonight we are reminded that we need not be slaves to Pharaoh or to irrevocable destiny. We pledge to break the cycle of war and build a better future moving us from gnut to shevakh, from degradation to praiseworthiness.

“Even ma’asu habonim – The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.” As we joyfully recite these words of Hallel as a part of our seder, we pledge to build a homeland with a place for all those who are today rejected, ignored or oppressed. God’s Image will be our cornerstone, and all will have a place at our table.

Recalling the midwives of old, we know that the seeds of redemption are planted when we oppose Pharaoh’s command.

This year seeds were planted. We restored Palestinian lands to their rightful owners, enabled farmers to safely reach their lands, made public housing the talk of the Knesset and of the nation, influenced the Alaluf Commission to come up with decent recommendations for fighting poverty and helped fellow Israelis to find housing solutions. Our High Court has defended asylum seekers and told the state that the current planning discrimination in Area C is unacceptable.

MAY THESE GLIMPSES OF WHAT COULD BE STRENGTHEN OUR RESOLVE TO STRIVE FOR WHAT MUST BE:

NEXT YEAR IN A JERUSALEM REDEEMED THROUGH JUSTICE

The Four Children at the Seder Table: Which Child Am I?

As we celebrate this Holiday of Freedom, the ending of slavery, we ask, “Who am I, when I hear of human rights abuses? Who will I choose to be when I know that others are suffering?”

Will I be one who does not ask? Will I close the newspaper or turn off the television, the computer or the mobile device so that I do not hear or see? Will I turn my head and heart away?

Will I ask only simple questions? “What is this?” Will I ask what, but never why?

Will I let the evil impulse, my yetzer hara ask: “What has this to do with me?” Will I let the problem belong only to the victims and the do-gooders? Will I distance myself from those in need?

Or will I strive to act in wisdom, to ask: “What are the underlying causes of the problem and what needs to be done to stop the abuse and free the oppressed? What are the laws and what does God expect of me?”

May God open the eyes of those who do not see, the mouths of those who do not ask, and the hearts of those who do not care, and grant us the wisdom to open our hands to our fellow humans when they are in need – the hand of generosity, the hand of support, the hand of peace and friendship.

Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch, Commentary to the Torah,

You shall not wrong a ger (Non-Jew living among you and living by your rules) or oppress him/her, for you were gerim in the land of Egypt (Exodus 22:20)

The great, meta-principle is oft-repeated in the Torah that it is not race, not descent, not birth nor country of origin, nor property, nor anything external or due to chance, but simply and purely the inner spiritual and moral worth of a human being, that gives him/her all the rights of a human being and of a citizen. This basic principle is further protected against infringement by the additional explanation, “For you were gerim in the land of Egypt.” … Your entire misfortune in Egypt was that you were “foreigners” and “aliens.” As such, according to the views of other nations, you had no right to be there, had no claim to property, to homeland, or to a dignified existence. It was permissible to do to you whatever they wished. As gerim, your rights were denied in Egypt. This was the source of the slavery and wretchedness imposed upon you. Therefore beware, so runs the warning, from making human rights in your own state conditional on anything other than on the basic humanity which every human being as such bears within him/her by virtue of being human. Any suppression of these human and civil rights opens the gate to the indiscriminate use of power and abuse of human beings, to the whole horror of Egyptian mishandling of human beings that was the root of abomination of Egypt.

The post Rabbis for Human Rights Haggadah Supplements 5775 appeared first on Rabbis for Human Rights.

On Khan El Akhmar, The Abuse of Power and the “Us” In The Promise

PASSOVER THOUGHTS 5775

Rabbi Arik W. Ascherman

RHR President and Senior Rabbi

Confiscation of solar panels from Khan el Akhmar

One of my excuses for sending out our annual Haggadah supplement and my thoughts so late (The other being my son’s Bar Mitzvah this past Shabbat) is the emergency call we received on Wednesday, as Civil Administration officials surrounded the Jahalin encampment in Khan El-Akhmar in order to confiscate newly delivered solar panels. Rabbis Yehiel Grenimann, Jeremy Milgrom and I were among those that rushed to stand with our friends.

Frantic efforts to contact anybody who might be able to halt this abuse of power on the eve of Passover were to no avail. Feeling a combination of powerlessness and bitter irony at how completely the State of Israel was betraying the Torah’s repeated command not to wrong the non-Jew living among us because we had been in that very position in the land of Egypt, I began to read out again and again the Torah commentary of Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch to Exodus 22;20 that I so often quote, and can be found in our Haggadah supplement. The bottom line being, “Any suppression of human rights opens the gate to the indiscriminate use of power and abuse of human beings that is the root of the entire abomination of Egypt.” This made me dangerous. I soon had to sit down and continue to shout out the words of Rabbi Hirsch, while refusing to be escorted further away.

Some of the police officers actually were willing to engage in discussion, but it was quite circular. They repeatedly returned to their bottom line, “The solar panels, and this entire encampment, are illegal.” I kept challenging Israel’s right to unilaterally determine what is illegal. I told them that I would leave aside international law not accepted by Israel stipulating that an occupying power cannot interfere in civilian affairs that are not a matter of military necessity (One officer actually defined our desire to control the land as military necessity). However, I asked, how would they feel if somebody would take over their community and tell them that they would have unilateral authority to determine where and what they could build. One officer countered, “If you visit Italy, you don’t have any say in determining the laws there!”

Some of you may recall that Rabbi Hirsch also said those with all the power in their hands cannot be allowed to make the rules. Even with the best of intentions, he says it “borders on criminality.” Wednesday reminded me just why we are returning to Israel’s High Court on April 12th for a second discussion of our demand to end to permit related home demolitions by restoring to Palestinian hands planning and zoning authority for Palestinian communities. (We are cautiously hopeful that the judge’s decision to schedule a second hearing is a good sign.)

I hope I am wrong, and we must maintain our faith that if God could harden Pharaoh’s heart, God can also open hearts. However, our recent election results indicate that we are likely to be facing more Egypt like abuse of power towards Palestinians. Although it has been in the offing way before the elections, I feel that it may be all too necessary that RHR is planning an internal reorganization under which I will reassume direct responsibility for RHR’s field work in the Occupied Territories. I am proud of the fact that the Israeli public housing coalition which I helped found has made public housing one of the most talked about issues in the Knesset and in the recent elections, and will continue to be active in the Ma’abarah, the Jerusalem public housing collective I also helped found. However, the time has come to turn this project over to the capable hands of the Director of our Socioeconomic Justice Department, Rabbi Idit Lev (Who will be in New York in late April and early May, and has time for additional talks and meetings.). Rabbi Kobi Weis, who has done incredible things working with public housing tenants in Beit Shean, will assume the day to day responsibilities for the project. Rabbinic student Yonatan Shefa, who has been assisting Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann in the Occupied Territories, will assume the directorship of our new Interreligious Department. Rabbi Grenimann will become the senior advisor to that department, among other new responsibilities. All that RHR does is incredibly important, and I have never wanted to be “pegged” as being concerned only about one group or another. However, I do have a feeling that where I am going to be most needed is defending the rights of non-Jews.

And finally, this brings me to the passage in the Haggadah that my son loves, and I have found more and more difficult in recent years, “V’Hee Sh’Amdah, “”This Promise (God’s Promise of redemption) has stood for our ancestors and for us. For not just one enemy has stood against us to destroy us. Rather, in every generation there are those who arise to destroy us. And the Holy One of Blessing saves us from them.” We write in the RHR Haggadah supplement “Our awareness that, ‘In every generation there are those who arise to destroy us’ often causes us to harden our hearts, perceive hatred where it does not exist and justify the oppression of others.” The awareness is based on reality, but the question is what do we do with that awareness. Does the memory of Egyptian slavery allow us to justify putting our welfare above the welfare of non-Jews, or sensitize us our obligations both to ourselves and to others?

Who is the “us” for whom the Promise stands?

Those who are excluded from the “us” can be many. In Israel they include fellow Israelis living in poverty, African asylum seekers, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. However, as we witness the coalition negotiations in which several parties are pressing demands to improve the lot of Israelis living in poverty, we see no such concern for non-Jews. And yes, there are those in the world for whom Israelis are certainly not part of their “us.”

On this festival of freedom, may we liberate ourselves and God’s Promise from all of our self imposed constraints. When we sing “V’Hee Sh’Amdah” on seder night, let us do so with the awareness that the Promise of the God of all humanity is a promise for an “us” that includes all humanity. Let us strengthen our resolve to be agents of that promise, standing with the Jahalin of Khan El-Akhmar, the public housing tenants of Beit Shean and the African asylum seekers jailed in Holot.

Khag Kherut Sameakh (Wishing you a joyous and liberating festival of freedom),

Arik

P.S. Occupied Territories Field Department Director Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann will be in Leuven, Belgium April 20th-2nd, in Antwerp on April 24th, In Frankfurt, German from April 24th-27th, and in Koln on the 28th.

RHR Socioeconomic Justice Department Director will be in the New York Area, and possibly in additional locations, April 27th – May 10th. She has time available for additional presentations and meetings.

I will be in North America May 15th-June 7th, starting in Chicago and including the San Francisco Bay Area, Stamford, L.A., Seattle and the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. I do have open dates.

For more information, and/or to schedule an RHR speaker, please contact Sara Zur at rhr.sara@gmail.com.

 P.S.S.  With the incorporation of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel as an RHR department, we are excited to invite you to contact us about arranging a custom 7-14 day Educational Seminar in Israel  appropriate for synagogues, interfaith groups, etc. Please contact Ophir Yarden at education@icci.org.il.

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Before attending the Limmud conference in Germany  (April 30 to May 3rd, information and registration here) where he will be teaching classes,  Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann of RHR will first be speaking in a few locations throughout Germany and Belgium. We welcome all of our European friends and supporters to attend and say hello! See below for details.

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On Sunday, April 12 2015, the High Court will once again hear the planning and zoning petition submitted by RHR and partners.*  As previously promised,  we have once again sent our petition, signed by over 400 rabbis and cantors, to the office of Prime Minister Netanyahu. The petition requests that the state withdraw opposition to the High Court appeal, which seeks to put an end to administrative demolitions by allowing Palestinian villages in Area C to participate in planning and developing their communities. A number of new rabbis and cantors from around the world have signed the petition since we last submitted it to the Prime Minister in February. 

Before we hear the decision of  the judges Sunday, these rabbis and cantors  ask that the State, at its own initiative, implement moral, reasonable and fair planing and zoning principles that are in-line with international law and Jewish tradition. 

Over 400 rabbis and cantors from Israel, the USA, Canada, Britain and other countries have signed the call to Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop the practice of home demolitions. Every year, hundreds of Palestinian homes are demolished due to discriminatory administrative plans created and implemented by the Israel military without significant Palestinian influence. Palestinians are very rarely allowed to build, even on their own land.

Several prominent rabbis have signed the petition to PM Netanyahu including:

Rabbi Mauricio Balter – Co-Chairperson of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel and carries senior positions in international organizations.
Rabbi Amy Eilberg – The first woman ordained as a Conservative rabbi
Rabbi Laura Janner Klausner – Senior Rabbi of the Reform movement in Britain
Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg – Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism UK
The late Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi z’l (signed before his passing) – Founder and leader of the Jewish Renewal movement.
Rabbi Denise Eger - president of the Central Congress of American Rabbis (CCAR)

Full text of the letter

Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,

In 2005, over four hundred rabbis wrote an open letter to then Prime Minister Sharon expressing concern about the administrative demolition of Palestinian homes. We are extremely disapointed that the Government of Israel is opposing a High Court petition offering a constructive solution for alleviating this issue. Please use your authority to end this opposition.

Part of the 2005 letter read:

“The homes that were demolished were not demolished for any security reason. None of the people in these homes engaged in violence or harboring terrorists. They were demolished because of a violation of zoning regulations in a context where it is almost impossible for Palestinian families in those parts of the West Bank under Israeli civilian control or in Jerusalem to legally obtain building permits… “

The context referred to was the fact that planning and zoning laws severely restrict the ability of Palestinians to build homes, even on the lands that the State recognizes as belonging to them. There has been no representation or true ability for Palestinians to determine how to properly plan for their communities since local and district planning committees were abolished in 1971. The army plans for them.

Back in the 19th century, Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch warned in his Torah commentary about the disastrous consequences when, even with the best of intentions, those with the power in their hands try to appropriate for themselves the task of determining how to be just to others. The current discriminatory planning process exemplifies this, and violates the Jewish prohibition against acting “איפה ואיפה.”

Civil Administration (Army) planning officials have acknowledged that they don’t really have the ability to adequately plan for Palestinian communities. Currently, the failure of the existing system is clear. Thousands have been forced to build without permits, and great human suffering is caused when hundreds of homes are demolished each year in Area C alone.

We are therefore disappointed that the Government of Israel has decided to oppose the High Court petition submitted by Rabbis For Human Rights and partner organizations to restore local planning committees. In the hearing on the petition on April 28th of this year, the judges said clearly that the current situation is unacceptable, and gave the State ninety days to come up with a proposal to truly involve Palestinians in planning their communities. While the judges indicated that they would not force the State to restore the local and district planning committees cancelled by military order in 1971, they indicated that there was no legal reason for the State not to do so.

However, the State’s response was a proposal to institutionalize consultations that are already taking place in many cases. These consultations have not significantly altered the situation because the Civil Administration has no obligation to take into account what they hear. We also saw in the spring that consultations were suspended in response to moves by the Palestinian Authority.

Human rights must not be politicized. The State of Israel has an obligation to ensure that every human being under her control, each created in God’s Image, has a fair chance to build a home for him/herself and his/her family, irrespective of the current state of the peace process or differing opinions about what areas will be under Israel’s control in a future final status agreement. We urge the State of Israel to withdraw its opposition to RHR’s petition.

Additional resources: 

View the petition online and/or sign if you are a rabbi or cantor

Pdf list of the rabbis who signed

More on the High Court petition

FACEBOOK EVENT: Join us at court Sunday at 9AM

Press release regarding Sunday’s court date

 VIEW: Two slideshow presentations demonstrating the discriminatory planing and zoning policy in Area C

* the village council of Dirat-Rafa’aya, The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and The Society of Saint Yves- The Catholic Center for Human Rights. Other Palestinian villages also requested to join the appeal.

Signatures (organised first by country/region):

Rabbis and Cantors in Israel:    Rabbi Yehoyada Amir   Rabbi Raphael Arzt   Rabbi Arik Ascherman   Rabbi Sigal Asher   Rabbi Mauricio Balter   Rabbi Ehud Bandel   Rabbi Simcha Daniel Burstyn   Rabbi Ze’ev Cutter   Rabbi Shelton Donnell   Rabbi Yoav Ende   Rabbi Ohad Ezrachi   Rabbi Paul Feinberg   Rabbi Rosalind Gold   Rabbi Miri Gold   Rabbi Esteban Gottfried   Rabbi Ariella Graetz   Rabbi Michael Graetz   Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann   Rabbi Nava Hefetz   Rabbi Naamah Kelman   Cantor Evan Kent   Rabbi Dean Kertesz   Rabbi Ron Kronish   Rabbi Levi Lauer   Rabbi Jim Lebeau   Rabbi Barry Leff   Rabbi Eyal Levinson   Rabbi Joel Levy   Rabbi Jonathan Matt   Rabbi Neomi Meoded   Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom   Rabbi Joel Oseran   Rabbi Mira Raz   Rabbi Uri Regev   Rabbi Ed Rettig   Rabbi Stanley Ringler   Rabbi Peretz Rodman   Rabbi Ayala Ronen Samuels Rabbi Emma Sham-ba   Rabbi David Rosen   Rabbi Ofer Sabath-Beit-Halachmi   Rabbi Galia Sadan   Rabbi Ellie Tikvah Sarah   Rabbi Michael Schwartz   Rabbi Haim Shalom   Rabbi Gail Schuster-Bouskila   Rabbi Susan Silverman   Rabbi Anita Steiner   Rabbi Ma’ayan Turner   Rabbi Kobi Weiss   Rabbi Moshe Yehudai   Rabbi Gili Zidkiyahu   Dr Rabbi Aharon Zinger   Rabbi David Zisenwine   Rabbi Or Zohar       Rabbis and Cantors in Great Britain:   Rabbi R Benjamin   Rabbi Francis Berry   Rabbi Howard Cooper   Rabbi Colin Eimer   Rabbi Warren Elf   Rabbi Mijael Even-David   Rabbi Paul Freedman   Rabbi Helen Freeman   Rabbi Amanda Golby   Rabbi Mark Goldsmith   Rabbi Aaron Goldstein   Rabbi Michael Hilton   Rabbi Jason Holtz   Cantor Zoe Jacobs   Rabbi Margaret Jacobi   Rabbi Richard Jacobi   Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner   Rabbi Leah Jordan   Rabbi Deborah Kahn-Harris   Rabbi Sandra Kviat   Rabbi Monique Mayer   Rabbi Maurice Michaels   Rabbi David Mitchel   Rabbi Lea Muehlstein   Rabbi Jeffrey Newman   Rabbi René Pfertzel   Rabbi Sylvia Rothschild   Rabbi Sybil Sheridan   Rabbi Irit Shillor   Rabbi Amnon Daniel Smith   Rabbi Mark Solomon   Rabbi Zvi Solomons   Rabbi Jackie Tabick   Rabbi Larry Tabick   Rabbi Charles Wallach   Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg   Rabbi Alexandra Wright   Rabbi Cheryl Wunch   Rabbi Roderick Young   Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers       Rabbis and Cantors in Europe:   Rabbi Ruven Bar Ephraim   Rabbi Tamarah Benima   Rabbi Clary Rooda   Rabbi Anna de Voogt   Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp       Rabbis and Cantors in North America:   Rabbi Susan Abramson   Rabbi Howard Avruhm Addison   Rabbi David Adelson   Rabbi Ron Aigen   Rabbi Thomas M. Alpert   Rabbi Steve Altarescu   Rabbi Renni Altman   Rabbi Camille Shira Angel   Rabbi David Ariel-Joel   Rabbi Stephen A Arnold   Rabbi Melanie Aron   Rabbi Daniel H Aronson   Rabbi Raphael W. Asher   Rabbi Aryeh Azriel   Rabbi Andy Bachman   Rabbinical student Benjamin Barer   Rabbi Lewis M Barth   Rabbinical student David Basior   Rabbi Rachel Bat-Or   Rabbi Marc Belgrad   Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak   Rabbi Marci Bellows   Rabbi Allen B Bennett   Rabbi Marc Berkson Rabbi Donna Berman   Rabbi Joseph Berman   Rabbi Phyllis Berman   Rabbi Jonathan Biatch   Rabbi Binyamin Biber   Rabbi Yossie Bloch   Rabbi Barry Block   Rabbi Herman J. Blumberg   Rabbi Lewis Bogage   Rabbi Liz Bolton   Rabbi Barbara Borts   Rabbi Bradd Boxman   Rabbi Barnett Brickner   Rabbi Herbert Brockman   Rabbi Caryn Broitman   Rabbi Herbert Bronstein   Rabbi Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus   Rabbi Susan Bulba Carvutto   Rabbi Meredith Cahn   Rabbi Debra Cantor   Rabbi Steven Cardonick   Rabbi Reba Carmel   Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben   Rabbi Ari Carton   Rabbi Douglas Charing   Rabbi Joshua Chasan   Rabbinical student Misha Clebaner   Rabbi Debrah Cohen   Rabbi Howard Cohen   Rabbi Michael Tevya Cohen   Rabbi Tamara Cohen   Rabbi Hillel Cohn   Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels   Rabbi Michael Conforti   Rabbi David J Copper   Rabbi Laurie Coskey   Rabbi Susan Cowchock   Rabbi Meryl Crean   Rabbi Matt Cutler   Rabbi Robin Damsky   Rabbi Janet Darley   Rabbinical student Nathan DeGroot   Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis   Rabbi Lucy Dinner   Rabbi Fred Dobb   Rabbi Robert Dobrusin   Rabbi Art Donsky   Rabbi Billy Dreskin   Cantor Ellen Dreskin   Rabbi Ellen W Dreyfus   Rabbi George B Driesen   Rabbi David Dunn Bauer   Rabbi Shoshana Dworsky   Rabbi Renee Edelman   Rabbi Judith Edelstein   Rabbi Laurence Edwards   Rabbi Lisa Edwards Rabbi Denise Eger   Rabbi H.Bruce Ehrmann   Rabbi Amy Eilberg   Rabbi Barat Ellman   Rabbi Cindy Enger   Rabbi Rachel Esserman   Rabbi Susan Falk   Rabbi Elyse Feishman   Rabbi Edward Feld   Cantor Devorah Felder-Levy   Rabbi Fern Feldman   Rabbi Ted Feldman   Rabbi Zev Hayyim Feyer   Rabbi Brian Field   Rabbi Brian Fink   Rabbi Tirzah Firestone   Rabbi Frank A Fischer   Rabbi Ellen Flax   Rabbi David L. Freeman   Rabbi Susan Freeman   Rabbi Gershon Freidlin Rabbi Jonathan Freirich   Rabbi Dayle Friedman   Rabbi Joan S Friedman   Rabbi John Friedman   Rabbinical student Lev Friedman   Rabbi Pam Frydman   Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl   Rabbi Stephen Fuchs   Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer   Rabbi Roy Furman   Rabbi Joyce Galaski   Rabbi Hillel Gamoran   Rabbi Hillel Gamoran   Rabbi Rachel Gartner   Rabbi Jonah Geffen   Rabbi Laura Geller   Rabbi Everett Gendler   Rabbi Gary Gerson   Rabbinical student Joseph Gindi   Rabbi Miriyam Glazer   Rabbi Arnold S Gluck   Rabbi Bob Gluck   Rabbi Andrew Gold   Rabbi Neal Gold   Rabbi Barbara Goldman-Wartell   Rabbi Debra E Goldstein   Rabbi Seth Goldstein   Rabbi Seth Goldstein   Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser   Rabbi David Gordis   Rabbi Julie Gordon   Rabbi Maralee Gordon   Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb   Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann   Rabbi Roberto D Graetz   Rabbi Joshua Grater   Rabbi Gary Greene   Rabbi David Greenstein   Rabbi Hannah Greenstein   Rabbi Suzanne Griffel   Rabbi Susan Grossman   Rabbi Joshua Gutoff   Rabbi Debra R Hachen   Rabbi Moshe Halfon   Rabbi Richard Hammerman   Rabbi Howard Handler   Rabbi Maurice Harris   Rabbi Vered L. Harris   Rabbi Jill Hausman   Rabbi Abraham Havivi   Rabbi Linda Henry Goodman   Rabbi Floyd Herman   Rabbi Victor Hoffman   Rabbi Linda Holtzman   Rabbi Margaret Holub   Rabbi Daniel Horwitz   Rabbi Mark Hurvitz   Rabbi Me’irah Iliinsky   Rabbi Debbie Israel   Rabbi Daria Jacobs-Velde   Rabbi Josh Jacobs-Velde   Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster   Rabbi Cassi Kail Rabbi Steven Kane   Rabbi Peter E Kasdan   Rabbi Nancy Kasten   Rabbi Joanna Katz   Rabbi Reuben M Katz   Rabbi Hillel Katzir   Rabbi Peg Kershenbaum   Rabbi Noah Kitty   Rabbi Amy Klein   Rabbi Jason Klein   Rabbi Joe Klein   Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum   Rabbi David L. Kline   Rabbi Janeen Kobrinsky   Rabbi Debra Kolodny   Rabbi Ira Korinow   Rabbi Raquel S Kosovske   Rabbi Chava Koster   Rabbinical student Ilana Krakowski   Rabbi Michael L Kramer   Rabbi Douglas E Krantz   Rabbi Marc Adam Kraus   Rabbi Dr Yaacov Kravitz   Rabbi Leah Kroll   Rabbi Charles Kroloff   Rabbi Jonathan Kuptetz   Rabbi Susan Laemmle   Rabbi Karen Landy   Rabbi Gilah Langner   Rabbi Anson Laytner   Rabbi Darby Leigh   Rabbi Michele Lenke   Rabbi Michael Lerner   Cantor Janet Leuchter   Rabbi Eli-Yoel Levin   Rabbi Mark H Levin   Rabbi Richard N Levy   Rabbi Sue E Levy   Rabbi Yael Levy   Rabbi Sheldon Lewis   Rabbi Mordechai Liebling   Rabbi Janet B. Liss   Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman   Rabbi Richard Litvak   Rabbi Andrea London   Rabbi Michael Luckens   Rabbi Sarah Mack   Rabbi Mark Mahler   Rabbi Nina Mandel   Rabbi Shana Margolin   Rabbi Marc Margolius   Rabbi Jeff Marker   Rabbi Dr Susan Marks   Rabbi Nathan Martin   Cantor Jacqueline Marx   Rabbi Michael Mellen   Cantor Hazzan Harold Messinger   Rabbi Rachel Mikva   Rabbi Heather Ellen Miller   Cantor Annice Miller Benamy   Rabbi Jordan Millstein   Rabbi Joshua Minkin   Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh   Rabbi David Mitchel   Rabbi David Mivasair   Rabbi Linda Motzkin   Cantor Julie Newman   Rabbi Dev Noily   Rabbinical student Salem Pearce   Rabbi Barbara Penzner   Rabbi Helen Plotkin   Rabbinical student Louis Polisson   Rabbi Charles P Rabinowitz   Rabbi Arnie Rachlis   Rabbi Debra Rappaport   Rabbi Yaakov Reef   Rabbi Frederick Reeves   Rabbi Paula Reimers   Rabbi Victor H Reinstein   Rabbi Yair D Robinson   Rabbi Brant Rosen   Rabbi Aaron Rosenberg   Rabbi James B Rosenberg   Rabbinical student Ken Rosenstein   Rabbi Marc Rosenstein   Rabbi John Rosove   Rabbi Michael Ross   Rabbi Jeff Roth   Rabbi Jonathan Rubenstein   Rabbi Elissa Sachs-Kohen   Rabbi Andrew Sacks   Rabbi Amy Sapowith   Rabbi Jeffery Saxe   Rabbi Zalman Hiyyah Schachter-Shalomi, z’l Cantor Jodi Schechtman   Rabbi Howard Schneider   Rabbi Elhanan Sunny Schnitzer   Rabbi Joel Schwab   Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz   Rabbi Sidney Schwarz   Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller   Rabbi Gerald Serotta   Rabbi Isaac Serotta   Rabbi Judy Shanks   Cantor Linda Shivers   Rabbi Becky Silverstein   Rabbi Jonathan Singer   Rabbi Suzanne Singer   Cantor Raini Siroty   Rabbi Hank Skirball   Rabbi Jonathan Slater   Rabbinical student Stephen Slater   Rabbi Amy Joy Small   Rabbi Uriel Smith   Rabbi Joel Soffin   Rabbi Ruth H Sohn   Rabbi Eric Solomon   Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro   Rabbi Scott Sperling   Rabbi Toba Spitzer   Rabbi Sonya Starr   Rabbi David Steinberg   Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman   Rabbi Adam Stock Spiker   Rabbi Ariel Stone   Rabbi Andrew Straus   Rabbi Joshua Strom   Rabbi Alvin M Sugarman Rabbi Alana Suskin   Rabbi Robert Tabak   Rabbi Reuven Taff   Rabbi Susan Talve   Rabbi Elliott Tepperman   Rabbi David Teutsch   Rabbi Andrew Vogel   Rabbi Heidi Waldmann   Rabbi Brian Walt   Rabbi Arthur Waskow   Rabbi Pamela Wax   Rabbi Elye Wechterman   Rabbi Sheila Weinberg   Cantor Alan Weiner   Rabbi Cheryl Weiner   Rabbi Simkha Y Weintraub   Rabbi Cory Weiss   Rabbi Max Weiss   Rabbinical student Ora Weiss   Rabbi Rachel Weiss   Rabbi Zari Weiss   Rabbi Shifra Weiss-Penzias   Rabbi Nancy H Wiener   Rabbi Shohama Wiener   Rabbi Paula Jayne Winnig   Rabbi Greg Wolfe   Rabbi Paul Yedwab   Rabbi Shawn Zevit   Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman   Rabbi Michael Zimmerman   Rabbi David J Zucker

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As RHR and our  partners  at the village council of Dirat-Rafa’aya, The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and The Society of Saint Yves- The Catholic Center for Human Rights, head into our High Court hearing today (Sunday April 12th 2015), Amnesty International released a statement on Thursday  urging the Israeli government to accept the petition  returning planning authority in Area C to Palestinian hands for their communities in Area C.

Th research conducted by Amnesty did  not find any comparable situation anywhere in the world to the planning situation in Area C. It is universally accepted that people must have a say in planning their communities. There are places where this does not happen de facto, but they didn’t find other places where it was denied de jure. Amnesty urges the Israeli government to accept our petition, which will will allow the Palestinians to plan for their own communities. 

Read the statement from Amnesty

RELATED:

More on the High Court petition

Press release for the April 12th High Court date

VIEW: Two presentations on discriminatory planning rights in Area C

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Rabbis for Human Rights could not have been more pleased with our Indigogo “Plant Change, Grow Hope” campaign this past January and February! With the help of  campaign supporters from all corners of the globe, 1,500 additional olive trees were purchased and donated to Palestinians farmers in Area C whose land is either at risk for take-overs, or have been previously subjected to agricultural attacks by extremists. 

In a show of brotherhood and solidarity, saplings were planted by Israelis and Palestinians together during two extremely successful events marking the Jewish tree holiday of Tu B’Shevat. The events were held in the Palestinian village of Yasuf on February 4th, where just recently over fifty mature trees had been hacked down in a suspected attack by Jewish extremists, and on February 6th in the Palestinian village of Kusara, which also has a history of attacks on its agriculture.

RHR, along with the numerous Palestinian farmers and their families who received the donations, wish to thank everyone who contributed to this campaign. These olive sapling may be small, but each one is truly an investment in a shared future which will benefit generations of both Israelis and Palestinians to come. Each tree is a symbol of hope and a medium for change.

BIG THANKS TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS! We hope you will continue to partner with us in bringing our message of hope and solidarity, all through the lens of Judaism, for as long as it is needed in our region.

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PRESS RELEASE | APRIL 12 2015

In the second hearing today on our High Court Petition to return planning authority to Palestinian hands for their communities in Area C, the judges accepted an affidavit from Professor Rassem Khamaiseh, the planner most active in interfacing with the Israeli army’s Civil Administration in order to plan Palestinian communities.

The Court gave the State ten days to reply.  Afterwards, the judges will decide how to proceed. The main points in this hard hitting affidavit appear below, and the full affidavit (currently only in Hebrew), is available upon request.

Background:  The appellants are the Diraat-Rafiah Municipality, Rabbis For Human Rights, Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and The Society of St. Yves, Catholic Center for Human Rights.

In the previous hearing, the High Court judges stated that they wouldn’t force the State to make a fundamental change in the planning structure in Area C, but that the current situation is unacceptable. They ordered the State to come up with an institutional change to increase the involvement of Palestinians in planning their communities.  The State proposed a non-binding “consultation” procedure.  The appellants claimed that this was nothing new.  Today Palestinians can submit planning proposals to the Civil Administration.  However, experience shows that these proposals are routinely rejected for patently unreasonable reasons.  For example, Susya is considered too small to be an independent community, even as smaller settler outposts are legalized. In today’s discussion, the appellants were represented by attorney Netta Amar-Shiff and Quamar Misharqi –Assad from RHR, and Sliman Shahin of JLAC.

Reaction of the appealing NGO’s to today’s hearing:

1. Planning is not a matter of beneficence, but rather a basic right.  Past experience proves that the non-binding “consultation” proposal will not change the current reality. Planning for Palestinian communities in Area C will continue to be something the military government bestows according to its discretion.

2. Local participation in planning is the norm in the entire world. Amnesty International, a veteran human rights organization operating around the world on many issues, including planning and the right to housing, issued a statement this past Thursday. They warned that the planning situation in Area C formally denying real Palestinian participation in planning, as well as the very different planning system in place for settlers, creates discrimination that is unique around the world and does not conform to acceptable planning norms.  The statement can be found at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/1430/2015/en/ 

3. While the State wants to leave planning issues to some future point in which there will be political negotiations, the appellants made it clear that there is currently an immediate and acute humanitarian problem that cannot be ignored until there will be negotiations at some future point in time. Israel, as the power that has full control in Area C, has the responsibility and obligation to plan properly through institutions fulfilling Israel’s obligations to uphold international law, human rights, and Israeli legal norms.

4. Attorney Amar pointed out that, even though the future of settlements that are illegal according to international law are a matter for future negotiation between the parties to the conflict, they have local planning communities denied to Palestinians. Nobody would think of making their participation in planning at the local level a matter to be determined only through negotiation. The State claims regarding negotiations are therefore a clear case of “eifah v’eifah,” discriminatory double standards by the State.

5. There is no legitimate potential future political solution under which it would be possible to deny Palestinian communities planning planning authority at the local and district level.  Human rights cannot be made dependant on the political process.  Rights must not be a negotiating chip in negotiations.  There are no “pragmatic” considerations that justify a planning structure that distinguishes and discriminates according to national identity, as the current system discriminates between settlers and Palestinians.

6. Blocking Palestinian development in Area C is not only discriminatory and contrary to planning standards in Israel and around the world; this system is a severe and unjustifiable violation of Palestinian property rights.

7. Professor Rassem Khamaiseh, a planner deeply involved in interfacing with the CA in order to plan Palestinian communities in Area C, has submitted an affidavit severely criticizing the current planning system.

   • The lack of Palestinian representation in planning institutions harms the planning process very seriously.
   • These planning institutions force their opinions on the local residents.
   • No independent Palestinian initiative to submit building and zoning plans is a substitute for creating Palestinian planning committees.
   • While supposedly part of the same planning framework, the different planning systems for settlers and for Palestinians are very discriminatory.
   • The current planning institutions limit the development of Palestinian communities by making demands and requirements that Palestinians cannot possibly meet.
   • The new “consultation” procedure will not change anything because there is no obligation to honor the wishes of the residents.
   • The Civil Administration planning institutions are plagues by a lack of understanding of, and disrespect for Palestinian culture
   • The CA planning institutions act to transfer Palestinian populations form one planning area to another, according to the CA’s wishes.
   • There is a deep mistrust between the Palestinian residents of Area C and the CA planning institutions.  This lack of trust is a major block preventing the advancement of local building and zoning plans in general, and certainly to joint planning.
   • Building and zoning plans initiated by residents are not successful.
   • The CA does not initiate plans for villages they don’t recognize. Or, they do initiate and the residents object because the plans don’t meet their needs. Or, the residents initiate and the CA doesn’t accept their plans, certainly not in any reasonable time frame
8.  A report by the Israeli NGO of planners, “Bimkom,” along with additional statistics provided by various local and international bodies, demonstrate that the decisions of the current military planning authorities are truly unacceptable and the source of severe and multifaceted discrimination distinguishing between planning for Palestinian communities and the way planning is conducted for settlements or for Israeli communities inside the Green Line. This discrimination exists in the structure of the planning system, both for the already built up areas and undeveloped lands needed for the future development of Palestinian villages. (Currently less than 1% of Area C is designated for future development of Palestinian villages, as opposed to 27% for settlements.), and also in enforcement policy. The CA is not creating building and zoning plans for many Palestinian communities in Area C. Palestinians are forced to themselves submit development plans that are usually rejected for very unprofessional reasons. This will not change under the non-binding “consultation” procedure.
9.  Attorney Amar explained that, as a result of their bitter experience none the village representatives present in the courtroom had any faith that discussions with the CA without giving them authority would change anything on the ground. This can can also be seen in their affidavits. In the meantime, hundreds of homes are demolished every year because families can’t obtain building permits. This is a clear violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.

In the photos,  attorneys Netta Amar-Shiff and Quamar Misharqi Assad explain what happened to the village representatives who attended the hearing, most of whom do not speak Hebrew. Additional information on the High Court appeal Presentations on the discriminatory nature of the planning in Area C of the Occupied Territories 

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