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‘Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) – a leading non-government human rights organization (NGO) in Israel – has made an unprecedented attack on the integrity of Israel’s High Court, whilst simultaneously attempting to undermine what little is left of the stalled Peace Process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The Rabbis have opened themselves up to such criticism as a result of their involvement in a case before Israel’s High Court alleging illegal building activity in Susya – an Arab village located in Area C of the West Bank which is presently under Israel’s total administrative and security control.
RHR’s web site mandates the organization
“advocating for the rights of marginalized members of society, in defending the rights of minorities in Israel and of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories”
RHR has, however, chosen to go beyond this human rights agenda by engaging in partisan political activity on behalf of the Palestinian Authority – using the Susya case as the catalyst and its residents as political footballs in the process.
RHR made this political objective very clear when warning:
‘At first blush, it may seem that this is “only” about the threat to demolish the entire village of Susya, the homes of these simple cave dwellers of the South Hebron Hills. However, the truth is that the results will affect the fate of hundreds of Palestinian homes throughout the Occupied Territories, perhaps thousands. The outcome may well have an effect on our major appeal to return planning authority for Palestinian communities in Area C to Palestinian hands.’
Since more than 95 per cent of the Palestinian Arabs already live in Areas A and B where (under the Oslo Accords) the Palestinian Authority, not Israel, has full administrative control over what is built and not built in those areas, this claim was both alarmist and unsustainable.