Negev - Sale of liquidation: The government encourages illegal construction for the integrity of the coalition

To bring Mansour Abbas back to the coalition, it was decided to give him candy - an official permit for the Bedouin to build illegally, with an early government promise to refrain from enforcing it.

The rule of law is dead, long live the coalition.

Deputy Attorney General in Response to Things: Illegal construction should not be encouraged

Kalman Liebskind

21/05/2022

Saturday, 21 May 2022, 21:02 Updated: 21:04

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Received candy.

Abbas (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Imagine that the Minister of Internal Security will announce tomorrow in an orderly letter that from now on the police will not initiate criminal proceedings against those who possess weapons without a license, and live in the Galilee.

Imagine that the Commissioner of Police announces that half of the roads in Israel will no longer be enforced, along with the detailed list of these roads, or that the director of the tax authority will inform the citizens that from now on tax evasion of up to NIS 100,000 will not be addressed. What the government did this week, when, following the temporary annoyance of Mansour Abbas, and in order to appease him, gave him a gift that I think has not yet been seen in our places.

This happened when Sigal Moran, director general of Minister Meir Cohen's office, a member of Yesh Atid and the government's commissioner for dealing with Bedouin settlement in the Negev, announced in an official letter regarding a high percentage of Bedouin living in the diaspora that they could add illegal construction. Will exceed 70 square meters, and the State of Israel will not enforce the law on them.

This is not an increase in the budget for a party that is building muscle, nor is it the appointment of another representative for one position or another.

It is a complete dismantling of responsibility for the rule of law, and in practice a government call to the Bedouin: "In view of our coalition needs, you are welcome to break the law."

Why is this such a promiscuous decision?

Well, it is also true that to this day the state has not demolished any illegal meter built.

Far from it.

As in every corner of the law enforcement system, in this issue too the various enforcement bodies are forced to draw up priorities for themselves, given their limited resources.

This need, to choose what is a high priority and what is less, led the authorities to decide as early as six years ago that they invest their best efforts in illegal building additions that are larger than 50 square meters. True, this sounds strange, illogical and unreasonable. True, in Hadera Or in Tel Aviv there is no chance that someone will be able to build 50 square meters without a permit and without a permit and no one will bring the law with him, but this is what the reality in the Negev looks like.

So what is the big difference between the decision not to enforce up to 50 square meters that was valid until today, and the decision not to enforce up to 70 square meters that will be valid from today?

The big difference is that the state has kept the previous enforcement policy to itself.

The priorities were discussed at meetings in the Ministry of Justice, and in an internal dialogue between the enforcement agencies and themselves.

There has never been an orderly government announcement to criminals informing them of the conditions under which they could build illegally, with the eye of the state closed.

No one ever thought of informing the Bedouin that if they built up to 50 square meters, the state would not touch them. So what happened now? Now Ra'am has announced the freezing of its membership in the coalition.

Now the government had to allow it to present achievements.

There is nothing left to lose

Need to understand how this business works.

Once a month, the Real Estate Enforcement Authority uploads a photo flight documenting all construction in the Negev.

These photos are decoded by a private company, according to the predefined settings it receives, compared to previous photos taken last month.

As stated, until now the recommendation was not to enforce building additions that have an area of ​​up to 50 square meters and do not exceed the boundaries of the cluster. Now the permit for delinquency will expand and increase

. The series ", but there is no more vague definition in the Negev than this definition.

Why?

Because most of the Bedouin in the Diaspora can be covered in it.

Some have no solution available from moment to moment.

Another part has a solution, but it has a problem with the neighbors.

For the third part, the proposed solution is not liked.

And the other part does not necessarily refer to this phrase, "solution," as the state treats it.

And the most important thing is that all this discussion, if any at all, is about who is included in the criteria that allow him to build more and more against the law and who is not, should not be conducted before the illegal construction.

The government officially announced to the Bedouin this week that they will first be able to build another 70 square meters of illegal land, beyond the illegal construction they built earlier, and only after this construction can the state start asking them if they built for a young couple. This couple really has no series solution and more and more.

More on Walla!

The battle for hope

To the full article

The Bedouin settlement of Khan al-Ahmar (Photo: Shlomi Heller)

Anyone who thinks that the State of Israel is capable of allowing the Bedouin to build as they please, and only then begin to argue with each of them whether its illegal construction meets its criteria to decide whether to demolish it or not, to be healthy.

And whoever thinks that after they build they will start inspectors walking around among the new buildings that will pop up to see if the couple living in it are really young, I have land on Mars to sell to him.

"Build free," the government tells them, "then we'll see what they do with it."

But the biggest damage the government is causing in this decision, lies in the fact that it may finally bury the efforts to regulate Bedouin settlement in the Negev.

After all, until now, those who built it had something to lose.

True, enforcement against the Bedouin sector is not very successful.

True, it has enabled the delinquency of many.

True, the numbers show that in any case, many Bedouins continue to build as they please.

And yet, to this day, the state has held the baton.

After all, even if it is an unsatisfactory minority, thousands of buildings have been demolished over the years, and whoever built them knew he was taking a risk.

That he has something to lose.

That he should nevertheless consider looking for a legal house in a legal locality, with the help of the state that gives him the land for free, and further compensates him for the illegal construction from which he was forced to part.

But now that the illegal construction has been approved, what reason will this Bedouin have to move to Rahat or Lakia or Segev Shalom, orderly and legal localities?

Now, when a Bedouin father can build another 70 square meters for his son who got married, and after two years build another 70 square meters for the next son who also gets married - and the Israeli government informs him that it's fine, even though he tweeted the law, even though he did not get permits, and even though he did not pay Taxes - what exactly is supposed to convince him to move to a legal locality, with limited space and with planning and building committees that need to give him permits, and with a local council that will charge him levies?

Beyond that, think about the message the government is conveying here.

After all, what is supposed to go through the mind of a law-abiding Bedouin citizen who did not build in the illegal diaspora, but made sure to build a legal house, in a legal locality, and obtain permits and permits, and also pay for them quite a bit?

What is he supposed to think now, when he sees a government ministry informing his brother, a lawbreaker who lives in the diaspora, that he can build freely and no one will enforce the law on him and no one will collect property taxes from him, and no one will demand permits and taxes and levies?

The Israeli government announced this week to the Bedouin, who is law-abiding, in the most official way possible, that he is a dumb sucker.

Policy document

Now, let's go back a little bit to explain the political background to all this.

Last October, a few months after the formation of the government, Minister Meir Cohen approached the Ministry of Justice and asked to find a way to facilitate the Bedouin in everything related to law enforcement against their illegal construction.

Two months later, an article prepared by Raviv Drucker about MK Mansour Abbas was broadcast on News 13.

Drucker accompanied the chairman of the RAAM on his tours of various places and heard from him about his concerns, his positions, and his decision to join the coalition.

At one point, Drucker's camera and microphone recorded a conversation between Abbas and the director general of the Ministry of Welfare, Sigal Moran, whose office is responsible for the settlement of the Bedouin in the Negev. "The most important thing we are doing right now is the policy document," she told Abbas. "Once we finish the policy document, it will save us the trouble of later." Code for a new and more conciliatory policy regarding house demolitions in the Negev.

A policy of much less demolition. "

Moran tried to figure out from Abbas if he could talk to the attorney general, and continued: "Just, it's over already. It's so annoying. I, I just do not have the ability to tell anyone who comes with an order," and Drucker concludes: "Approval of such a document, a policy document "Attorney General Bezalel Smutrich, who was watching the program, realized that something was brewing and hurried to send an urgent letter to the attorney general, then Avichai Mandelblit. Smutrich explained to the attorney general what he heard in the article, and asked for clarification." This raises serious concerns that heavy pressure is being exerted on Lords to approve a mitigating enforcement policy against construction offenders in the Bedouin sector and that my Lord has succumbed to this pressure and approved, or close to approving, the word laundering referred to in the article as a ‘Policy Document’.

The chairman of Religious Zionism warned the councilor against politicizing the law enforcement system, from awarding prizes to criminals, and from possible harm to public trust and the principle of equality before the law, and asked for the crystallizing policy document and the councilor's explanations. Later, work continues on the easing of enforcement with the Bedouin in full force. Interior Minister, MK Abbas and Secretary of State.

It is clear that such a blatantly democratic state of law cannot be beaten with such blatant political intervention in enforcement proceedings. "

Asked for answers from two spokesmen. Smutrich (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Smutrich also asked for answers from the incoming counselor, but like her predecessor, she also chose not to reply to his letter.

He received the answer only another month later, and only on the day the new policy document was finally signed.

What is in this policy document?

In the document, the Ministry of Justice approves, after work done at the request of Minister Meir Cohen, to change the policy and facilitate enforcement.

As mentioned, if in the past, starting in 2016, the state puts low priority demolition of new illegal construction up to 50 square meters, when it comes to construction within the boundaries of an existing cluster, when it is done for the benefit of young couples, when it is located next to the parent building, , Now the business has expanded to 70 square meters.

But this is not the end of the story.

Because while the Justice Department contented itself with clarifying that from now on illegal construction up to 70 square meters would be "a low priority for enforcement," Welfare Director General Sigal Moran decided to go a few steps further and determine that this illegal construction would not be enforced at all.

Yesterday afternoon, Deputy Attorney General Carmit Ulysses sent a sharp and clear letter clarifying to the director general of the Ministry of Welfare that the decision to allow the Bedouin to build whatever they want crosses several red lines. Legal. "Ulysses explained to Moran what in a state of law was supposed to be obvious, in everything related to the new directives of the Ministry of Justice in this matter.

And one last note.

You must have asked yourself why the new directives regarding non-enforcement of law on Bedouin construction offenders were published only this week, since the Ministry of Justice approved them two months ago.

Well, very simple.

The government kept this candy quiet for the moment when the coalition would have to pay Mansour Abbas.

Now - when, following the Arabs' riots on the Temple Mount and the Israeli police's attempt to establish law and order there, he has announced that he is suspending his membership in the coalition - this moment has arrived.

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