Saturday, November 08, 2008

Barak Accused of Violating Knesset Decision


Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) MK Uri Ariel (National Union) has harsh words for Defense Minister Ehud Barak's latest decision to prevent yet another Jew from living in his home. Around 2 a.m. Friday, police detectives arrived in the controversial Beit HaShalom (Peace House) in Hevron, and served Yaron Kilav with papers banning him from anywhere in Judea and Samaria for the next three months.

MK Ariel, and others, accuse Barak - head of the foundering Labor Party - of politicking on the backs of innocent citizens as the national elections draw near. "Barak is trying to squeeze out the very last votes from the Kadima and Meretz voters for his party," Ariel said.
"Five such orders in two months are not what the Knesset meant by 'exceptional situations,'" says MK Ariel.

"The state bodies such as the police and the IDF must not become pawns in Barak's game, nor may they be part of his last-gasp political needs," Ariel continued.

Fifth Such Order in Two Months
The latest ban was the fifth distancing order - an order that need not be explained or justified in court - issued to residents of Judea and Samaria in the last several weeks. Akiva HaCohen, David Libman, and Meir Bretler - all married with children - and bachelor Tzvi Sukkot have all been banned from their homes for between three and four months.

The families of Beit HaShalom, where Kilav lives, have been under threat of evacuation by the government for the last several days, in light of accusations raised by Arabs that the Jews' purchase of the building was fradulent. This, despite a tape recording of the seller admitting candidly that he had sold the building to Jews.

Forbidden by Supreme Court, Knesset, Attorney General
Nearly two years ago, on Dec. 13, 2006, the Knesset passed the following resolution: "Use shall not be made of restriction orders, administrative detention orders, or other means that involve punishment without trial, if not for exceptional situations in which there is a clear suspicion of a threat to national security."

"Five such orders in two months are not what the Knesset meant by 'exceptional situations,'" says MK Ariel. "This is rather a blanket and out-of-proportion policy, that emits a bad odor of unacceptable political motivations."

Ariel also noted that former Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein, who is today a Supreme Court justice, forbade selective law enforcement on a specific sector of the population. The Supreme Court issued a similar ruling in 1996.

Dozens of MKs Protest
Two weeks ago, after Minister Barak announced that he was planning to clamp down on Jews of Judea and Samaria with more such administrative distancing orders, dozens of MKs wrote him a letter of protest. "Law enforcement must be done according to the law," they wrote, "according to rules and regulations, and while preserving civil rights, human dignity, and humanitarian concern. The usage of such orders was meant only for emergency situations in which normative law enforcement cannot be carried out."

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