Israeli court speaks about a two-week mass expulsion that lasted 50 years
Israel-Palestine, Judicial, 3/23/1998

The Israeli High Court gave the government of Israel three months to finally take a decision on why Palestinians from the village of Ikrith have not been allowed back to their village, from which they were kicked out in 1948.

The petition to the High Court was submitted by the villagers after red-tape bureaucratic delays have kept their case pending for so many years until early in 1996 when a ministerial committee under the former Labor government issued its recommendation that Israel allow the villagers to return.

The High Court decision on Monday accepted the argument presented by the state attorney office which said the government is still viewing the case and has not reached a final decision yet. But it stated that the Cabinet's deliberations cannot go on forever. "We hope to receive the final decision of the Cabinet within a maximum period of three months and if the state fails to present its answers, another hearing will be held no later than the first half of July," said Judge Hashin, president of the High Court.

During the 1948 war, villagers from Ikrith and other neighboring villages were evicted from their homes and told their return would be made possible "in two weeks time when hostilities are brought to an end." One of the reasons they were driven out of the village was because it is situated near the border with Lebanon and the Israeli army at the time claimed the villagers might play a role in aiding Palestinian infiltrators who sought to return to their homeland, whether as normal returnees or for the sake of carrying out military attacks against Israelis.

The Israeli army, however, did not allow the villagers to return and instead issued on April 24, 1949 a new order declaring the area of Ikrith a "protected zone" and prevented any civilian entry into its land. In September of the same year, another decision was issued by the military declaring the area a "security zone" and in fact eliminating every hope for those villagers to return, though the High Court ruled in July 1951 that the villagers should be allowed to return to their homes unless military orders are issued to distance them from their village. Those orders were later issued and the High Court finally accepted the state's argument that the area is a closed military zone and the villagers are not entitled to return.

The upcoming High Court session is slated for July this year, if the Israeli government does not take by then a clear decision on the matter. Villagers who attended the hearing said they hope the July 1998 Court ruling will allow them back and will have better chances to be implemented whereas the ruling that was issued the same month in 1951 was not honored by the government.

"The villagers have lived with their hopes and dreams ever since they were ordered out of their village in 1948 and with the ministerial committee's recommendations which ruled that security considerations which prevented their return in the past do not exist anymore, they are now hopeful more than ever before to see justice is done and that they are allowed to return," said the villagers' lawyer Avigdor Feldman in his presentation to the court. He drew the judges' attention to the fact that talks between the villagers and representatives of the former government had even dealt with details of how those villagers would return, to what area of their village they are entitled to build and even the method of build-it-yourself was raised when both sides discussed who should rebuild the destroyed village.

Feldman attacked the government's "endless delays" in the case of Ikrith and said it is about time for those Palestinians to be allowed back to their village after fifty years of injustice. The attorney general's representative who spoke on behalf of the government admitted that the deliberations are going on and on but said a court decision in this respect would torpedo the government's effort to finalize the issue in due process.

"The decision making process is not easy and the cabinet has to view all aspects of this cause and that is why a decision has not been taken as yet. Any ruling by the court might harm the efforts currently done by Tzahi Hanegbi, minister of justice, who has had a set of meetings with the villagers and their representatives and promised to present his conclusions to the cabinet within a short period of time," said the attorney general's representative. He defended the cabinet's inaction saying the ministerial committee had issued recommendations and not decisions and therefore the matter still needs to be viewed in depth before a final decision is made.

It is not clear yet how the Israeli Cabinet will react to the High Court ruling. According to advocate Feldman, it would be better from the government's point of view to issue a decision allowing villagers of Ikrith to return and not wait for a ruling to this effect by the High Court. "Such a ruling would set the legal precedent for more similar cases in the future and it would be easier for the government to just go ahead and allow Ikrith villagers to return without causing a legal mess."

Speaking to dozens of Ikrith villagers who made their way from northern Palestine to Jerusalem to attend the court hearing, Feldman said Monday's ruling meant there is no more chance for the government to play with time and not to submit its decision. As he spoke, he was blessed by a number of old women from the village who still remember how they were driven out of their homes and told to stay away only for two weeks. "They told us we were to be allowed back in two weeks after acts of hostilities were over but they never allowed us back," said Um Samir, a 65-year old mother of six. She expressed hopes that finally she would have the chance to build a small house in the village and spend the remaining years of her life in that house.

Previous Stories:
  Israeli Judge with Solomon's wisdom , or just ducking the issue?   (2/18/1998)
  Dead man waiting   (12/11/1997)
  Bedouins in Israel: victims of ongoing discrimination   (11/28/1997)

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