Isabel Kershner reports at the New York Times that Jewish Nationalists Clash With Palestinians:
Jewish nationalists and Palestinians clashed in an East Jerusalem neighborhood on Tuesday after the Israelis took over a house by court order in a predominantly Arab area. The confrontation further strained tensions in this contested city, where competing Israeli and Palestinian claims have become a sticking point in the Obama administration’s efforts to restart peace talks.
Naturally, the UN condemned Israel:
The United Nations said in a statement on Tuesday that the “secretary general has expressed his dismay at the continuation of demolitions, evictions and the installment of Israeli settlers in Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.â€
“Provocative actions such as these,†it continued, “create inevitable tensions, undermine trust, often have tragic human consequences and make resuming negotiations and achieving a two-state solution more difficult.â€
The Times provides some background:
The Kurds’ home is adjacent to a site held by Jews to be the ancient tomb of Shimon Hatzadik, or Simeon the Just, a Jewish high priest from the days of the Second Temple. A Jewish organization reclaimed the land around the tomb based on property deeds that date from the 1870s. The Palestinians say the deeds were forged.
The Palestinians’ homes were built in the 1950s by a United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees when the area was under Jordanian control. The families say that Jordan gave them ownership of the houses but that the homes were never formally registered in their names.
The Jerusalem Post adds a few more details:
A large number of homes in the neighborhood that belonged to Jews before 1948, were seized by the Jordanian government under its Enemy Property Law when Jordan occupied the area from 1948 to 1967.
In 1956, 28 Palestinian families who had been receiving refugee assistance from UNRWA, were selected to benefit from a project in which they forfeited their refugee aid and moved into homes built on “formerly Jewish property leased by the Custodian of Enemy Property to the Ministry of Development.”
The agreement stipulated that the ownership of the homes was to be put in the families’ names – a step that never took place – and court battles between Jewish groups that represent some of the former Jewish homeowners and the current Palestinian residents have been going on, in some cases, since the 1980s.
So then, this neighborhood was taken by force from Jews by Jordanians. Israeli Jews go to court to restore the property to Jewish ownership and the UN objects? I thought that the UN subscribed to:
… the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war
Or is that just a convenient formulation that really means “we object to Israel winning wars but we don’t mind when Jews are forcibly removed from their homes?”
The UN has been marking as a day of mourning the day on which it recommended partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state.
…
Need I say any more?
Related: Snapped Shot wonders if “scuffle” includes viciously beating someone with construction material?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
And notice it isn’t “Jews and Arabs”, it is “Nationalist Jews and Palestinians”.
Yes, isn’t it curious? The pre-1967 borders, which the Arabs always insisted were merely temporary cease-fire lines, suddenly became sacrosanct when Israel crossed them in order not to be exterminated.
Yet territory seized by Arabs as a result of war–not just in the Jerusalem area but in, say, Hebron and the Etzion bloc–well, no one seems to be suggesting that the Arabs turn that back to Israel.
I wonder what the reason is, but I’d guess it’s the same reason why an eviction of a few families after a lengthy procedure in an independent court is worth a UN resolution, while Hamas massacring nearly thirty Fatah supporters right inside a mosque isn’t considered worth noting, much less passing a resolution.
I suppose I should feel complimented that the world considers Jews able to adhere to standards to which no one else is held, but somehow I don’t.
It is as unjust to excuse murders committed by a pauper as it is to excuse murders committed by a prince.
True justice must be blind, and pass judgement based on actions rather than on social situations. Holding Israel to a different standard is outright injustice, even if it’s imposed with the best of intentions.