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Knesset bill slammed by U.S. Jews
for banning leases to Arabs.
Ben Harris
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
initiative on college campuses which
touts Israel's democratic traditions.
JNF's CEO, Russell Robinson, rejected
proposed Israeli law that
any suggestion that the message of
would uphold the govern-
Caravan for Democracy would be
ment's refusal to lease land
undermined by a bill which would
essentially enshrine into law differential
to Israeli Arabs has generated broad
treatment of Jewish and Arab Israelis.
opposition among American Jews con-
"This whole case is a great
cerned about the bill's moral
foundation for Caravan for
implications and its impact on
Democracy:' said Robinson,
the Jewish state's international
noting that the matter was
standing.
Endorsed 64-16 in July in its
prompted by a petition
first Knesset reading, the bill
brought by Israeli Arab groups
would allow the Israel Lands
and was debated in an open
forum that demonstrated
Authority to continue its refusal
Israel's commitment to due
to lease land owned by the
Russell
Jewish National Fund to non-
process.
"Democracy is about
Robinson
the process, not about the
Jews.
decision."
Founded over a century ago,
the JNF was instrumental in
Besides, Robinson said,
funneling money to help settle
Israel's democratic principles
Jews in pre-state Israel, and
must sometimes bend to the
state's foundational commit-
today roughly 60 percent of
Israelis live on the 13 percent of
ment to its Jewish character.
Israeli land owned by the orga-
Elsewhere in the Jewish
nization. Under an agreement
world, the bill was met with
Abraha
concern, if not outrage. Last
between the two sides dating
Foxma
week, Ameinu released the
back to the 1960s, JNF main-
tains ownership of the lands,
text of a letter opposing the
measure sent to one of the three spon-
but the ILA administers them in keep-
ing with fund's goals.
soring Knesset members. The Union
In recent days, the proposed law
of Reform Judaism is also at work on a
permitting a ban on leasing JNF land
protest letter. And a collection of Jewish
to Arabs was slammed by the Union for bloggers took up the issue online,
Reform Judaism, the largest American
collecting signatures for a petition
synagogue movement, and Ameinu, the expressing "profound disapproval and
American affiliate of the World Labor
sorrow" over the bill.
Zionist Movement. Also, the national
"This bill is not only unfair to one-
director of the Anti-Defamation League fifth of Israel's population; it also rein-
forces the growing perception around
criticized the measure, albeit in less
stringent terms.
the world that Israel is an 'apartheid'
One American group, the Zionist
state the Ameinu letter stated. "We
Organization of America, has endorsed
are friends of Israel who do our best
the bill. Otherwise, in the United States, to counter that false perception and
JNF has found itself virtually alone in
to build support for the Jewish state
defending the measure, on the grounds
in the public arena. By voting for this
that the organization's covenant
bill, you have made our job much more
requires that land it owns in Israel be
difficult."
used only for Jewish purposes.
The ADL's national director, Abraham
Critics worry that the bill comes at a
Foxman, noted that among Muslims,
time when the very notion of a Jewish
selling land to Jews is a crime some-
state is being increasingly challenged
times punished by death. Nonetheless,
throughout the world and Israel's treat-
he concluded that the bill is "contrary
ment of Palestinians and its own Arab
to the spirit of the Israeli Declaration of
citizens is drawing greater scrutiny. In
Independence, which talks about a state
fact, to combat these trends, JNF has
of equal citizens, which hasn't changed!'
sponsored Caravan for Democracy, an
The Knesset bill, titled the Jewish
A
ACCESSORIES
HANDBAGS
National Fund Law, is an attempt to cir-
cumvent Attorney General Menachem
Mazuz's 2005 determination that the
state cannot discriminate against
Arabs by restricting land leases to
Jews. Mazuz's ruling came in response
to a High Court petition challenging
the IL/Vs refusal to permit the sale of a
home to an Arab family.
JNF says that land swaps have been
used to accommodate Arab Israelis who
wished to purchase lands owned by the
organization; under this arrangement,
if JNF-owned land is sold to an Israeli
Arab, the fund is compensated with an
equivalent parcel of land elsewhere in
the country.
Critics charge that the practice is
a procedural nightmare that caused
many real estate deals to fall through.
"It's a very burdensome bureaucratic
move to actually change the title," said
Neta Ziv, director of the Human Rights
Clinic at Tel Aviv University and the
attorney in the landmark Ka'adan case,
in which an Arab family appealed to
the High Court after being prevented
from purchasing land in a new commu-
nity intended exclusively for Jews.
"Land swapping is not something
that you do overnight:' Ziv said. "Many
times Arab buyers back off the deal
because it got complicated, so they kind
of gave it up. It doesn't really work!'
If Mazuz's decision stands, JNF offi-
cials have said that the organization
will likely proceed with plans to end
its arrangement with the Israel Lands
Authority. Both JNF and its critics
agree that such a split might be the best
course, so that JNF can maintain its
policy but Israel will no longer have to
play a role in implementing it.
Some critics, however, challenge the
appropriateness of JNF continuing its
Jewish-only policy nearly 60 years after
the state's creation.
"A government is obligated to act
towards all of its citizens in a way that's
just and in a way that extends equal-
ity to all of its citizens;' said Rabbi
Eric Yoffie, president of the Union
for Reform Judaism. "For the Jewish
community to do what it had to do to
establish Jewish sovereignty in the land
was appropriate in every way. What's
appropriate post-state is not same as
pre-state."
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