"The planning bodies forgot the settlers who established Judea and Samaria"

Attorney Daniel Kramer, who specializes in planning and construction in the territories, claims that the state and private entrepreneurs are shunning the old settlers in the name of the desire to approve new city building plans and economic interests

In collaboration with legal zap

08/18/2022

Thursday, August 18, 2022, 1:50 p.m

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According to Attorney Kramer, as part of his work, he encountered a phenomenon in which the state and private entrepreneurs ignore the rights of old settlers from a planning point of view (Photo: ShutterStock)

"The planning bodies have forgotten the settlers who established Judea and Samaria," claims attorney Daniel Kramer, who specializes in planning and construction law in Judea and Samaria and has accompanied many settlers in recent years who seek to regulate and exercise their building rights on the land.

According to attorney Kramer, as part of his work, he came across Again and again in the phenomenon, in which the state and private entrepreneurs ignore from a planning point of view the rights of old settlers, who arrived in Judea and Samaria decades ago, and treat them and their needs in an offensive manner.

"This may be due to the welcome desire to regulate the existing construction through new city building plans alongside the aspiration to develop the existing settlements through new construction," explains Attorney Kramer, "but the problem is that the trends contradict each other and it is precisely the pioneer settlers who are harmed.

To get to the root of the claims, you have to go back more than five decades, to the period after the end of the Six Day War.

In those days, the state encouraged the settlers to build their homes in the territories of Judea and Samaria that were conquered in the war.

"The old settlers built their homes with the encouragement and direction of the municipal authorities, and the settlement was considered a Zionist act of the first order," claims Attorney Kramer. "However, at that time no long-term plans were prepared and no consideration was given to the future consequences of the accelerated construction." The

first settlers, who established themselves in the area Pioneers, are now forced to deal with new building plans that seek to expand the existing settlements. The problem is that many times these do not align with the planning reality that exists on the ground.

"Some of the new plans threaten the fabric of life of the old residents," claims Attorney Kramer. "Sometimes there is a feeling that the desired planning goal seems to justify the means.

As a result, houses that were built with a concept of rural construction suddenly became an enclave within complexes of saturated construction."

"Hiding the view, the light and the air"

According to Attorney Kramer, the new construction plans have far-reaching consequences for the homes of the old settlers, and in many cases the new plans may cause the view, the light and the air to be hidden and damage the access roads to the existing houses.

The contradiction between the need to take care of the needs of the settlers the veterans and the need to expand the settlements occurs at the same time as the objective problem that exists in the area: a lack of land.

As Attorney Kramer explains, according to the current prevailing concept in accordance with international law, the lands that are owned by Palestinians cannot be expropriated, and there are restrictions that prevent their use for settlement purposes, except Cases where there is a common interest in development for Arabs and Jews.

Attorney Kramer explains that "the settlers have not yet been granted the same status as permanent residents who are entitled to satisfy public needs as ordinary citizens, even through expropriation for public needs."

According to him, the state's behavior towards the old settlers raises a moral problem, since it was the state that encouraged them to build their houses, when there were still no city building plans in effect.

"The settlers were given building permits in principle out of an ideal desire to establish new settlements and an intention to regulate them in the future according to the existing situation," he concludes.

"The expectation, at least on a moral level, is that the state will resolve the issue in a way that will not harm the old settlers or that they will be paid proper compensation."

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The article is courtesy of Zap Legal

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