Rafael Broch: Criminal of logic

Mr. Broch’s conveniently erased facts from the Israel eviction story, too.

Instead of focusing on the issue of illegal eviction by pro-settlement advocates, he’s attempted to re-focus the light on what he believes the British media left out in its reporting of the most recent evictions of Arab families in East Jerusalem. Simply put, he claims that they were evicted because they did not pay rent, and as a result, the British media misled its readers because it did not include this fact.

This is a rather illogical conclusion. In order to make it, he had to presume some very false assumptions.

First, he is assuming that the state of Israel imposes and regulates rent control. Meaning, landlords can’t hike up rent as they wish because it is illegal. This is not the case.

Second, he is assuming that all citizens are being treated equally and that housing discrimination does not exist. This is also not the case. Arab Israelis are discriminated against much more than Jewish Israelis, putting them in vulnerable situations where the government fails to protect their rights. Even the current Housing Minister wants to stop “the spread of Arabs”. How about Mr. Broch comment on that instead of trying to hound British coverage of the recent evictions? So what if they failed to pay rent – did he put this into perspective and include factors that may have led to their inability to pay? No, he didn’t.

Third, he’s assuming that this land has designated owners and isn’t disputed over. Wrong, again. In his article, Broch quotes a representative as saying, “‘The legal issues surrounding the Sheikh Jarrah evictions is quite complex. In short, the Israeli courts have accepted the settlers’ claim of ownership over the property, but recognised the Palestinian residents to be protected tenants. Some of the 28 families continued to pay the rent, but some did not accept the court’s ruling and therefore did not pay the rent. Against those, the court issued eviction orders.’”

That’s great, if he thinks that the authority in question should also be used as a reliable source to judge itself. It’s called begging the question. Of course Israeli courts are going to say they should be evicted due to failure to pay rent, they’re the ones who setup the system of land control in East Jerusalem to begin with!

But the biggest omission of fact is regarding ownership of the property from which these families were evicted. This land used to belong to Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin Al-Husseini during the 1930s. After the Palestinian Mandate ended, the plot was administered by Jordan up until the Six Day War. During and after this time, it was seized by Israel, along with other territories such as the Golan Heights. They have yet to be returned.

According to the Jerusalem Post, “After the reunification of the city during the Six Day War, Israel designated the [Sheikh Jarrah] plot as ‘absentee property,’ and the hotel was used by the Justice Ministry as well as a district court. In 1985, Moskowitz bought the building and surrounding land from the government.”

Irving Moskowitz – a right-winged U.S. financier who is set on taking over Jerusalem via mass and illegal Jewish settlements. A man who’s daughter believes, “If the Arabs want to stay, they should behave.” Simply put – Israel seized this land from Jordan, failed to return it and then sold it to a radical Jewish tycoon that is set on taking as much land as possible via Jewish settlements. Jews didn’t own the land prior to the Six Day War – Muslims did.

Then there’s something called “gentrification” that Broch failed to address in his article. It means the process by which upper-class families and individuals of a city start moving into traditionally lower-class areas, causing spikes in development and also driving out lower-class families and individuals further out into rural and suburban areas. Because Arab Israelis are subjected to socio-economic discrimination, they are hardly wealthy and are often the victims of such a process – which is already happening in other cities, like Tel Aviv.

Jewish settlers and Israeli Jews continue to enjoy the middle to upper-class levels of society – allowing them the purchasing power to move to such areas and continue the process of gentrification. Unlike poor Arab Israelis, Jewish settlers also receive welfare checks that will ensure they can’t be evicted if they don’t make rent. The state pays when they can’t.

Why? Because Arab Israelis and Palestinians continue to face apartheid-like conditions within Israel, as well as in the Occupied Territories. In recent polls, 41% of the entire non-Arab population of Israel voted in favor of segregation. It cannot be denied that Arabs are probably making less income and facing more job discrimination than Jewish Israelis, factors that are also contributing to the rising income inequality. This includes no help from the same government that is seeking to limit their birth rates (at least, according to Benjamin Netanyahu).

What I’d like to know is how much rent these poor Arab families were paying in comparison to Jewish Israelis (particularly the ones that just moved in). Failing to pay rent has a lot of factors behind it – maybe the rent was raised without ceilings, making it impossible for Arab families to keep up.

Broch’s griping is hardly convincing.

For more information regarding the housing status of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, please feel free to visit the following sites:

Controversial plans funded by US Jews (Jerusalem Post)
Background: East J’lem housing project to go up at residence of former mufti

You may find the original article at: Erasing facts from Israel eviction story (August 6 2009)