The Sovereignty Law will have a dramatic influence on civil rights and will put an end to many years of discrimination. Now is the right time for us to bring about the revolution. An article by Shneur Shapira.
Below, we present the main points of the article by Shneur Shapira, “It is time to begin the application of Sovereignty”, from issue no. 637 of the magazine, Olam Katan (Small World) (for the Torah portion of Tetzaveh):
The situation that exists today is that the GOC General Command controls Judea and Samaria. The laws that apply are a confused combination of Israeli, Jordanian, British and even Turkish laws. So, for example, while Israeli tax laws apply completely, and the residents of Judea and Samaria pay taxes like all other Israeli citizens, the labor laws are not applied fully in Judea and Samaria. Does Israeli law protect pregnant women from losing their jobs? Not in Judea and Samaria. And this is only one example. There are many more.
Politically, the lack of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria has a dramatic effect. The Basic Law of Referendum, which was enacted in 2014, states that to evacuate residents from an area where Israeli law applies, the government must first come to an agreement with the Palestinians, then the agreement must be approved by the government and the Knesset and then a referendum must be held. Only with the completion of all of these things can the area be evacuated. Currently, this entire process does not apply to Judea and Samaria. Apparently, Judea and Samaria can be evacuated exactly in the manner that Gush Katif was evacuated, by a political coup.
Currently, after many years of establishing a hold in Judea and Samaria, it seems that the discourse on the Right has changed. The voices calling for annexation and the application of Israeli law in one way or another are increasing. There are plans by Bennett, Uri Ariel and Rav Benny Elon, z”l. Recently, the Likud Central Committee also approved a clause in the party’s platform to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
And continuing with this trend, the Land of Israel Lobby in the Knesset has proposed a law in Knesset to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. The proposed law seeks to apply the law over “the areas of settlement in Judea and Samaria” – not over all of Judea and Samaria, but only in the areas of Jewish settlement. Indeed, this would be a “thin” law, compared to larger plans like that which is being promoted by HaBayit HaYehudi. On the other hand, due to the nature of the law, there is a greater possibility for the law to win the support of all coalition members, while a broader law would apparently have a difficult time winning the required majority.
How will the influence of the law be felt? Besides lifting the perpetual cloud of uncertainty regarding possible evacuation, the law would dramatically change civil life for the residents of the area. The Labor Laws, as mentioned above, would apply without discrimination. The laws dealing with acquisition, planning and construction of property, which are now based on Turkish and Jordanian law, would change dramatically. Let’s take, for example, the neighborhood of the Patriarch’s Path in Gush Etzion. Without entering into details, the legal question in this case is “who owns the land upon which the buildings will be constructed”. If this dispute occurred in Tel Aviv, the question would be directed to the District Court, where they would examine the case and the testimony of both sides and then would resolve the issue – one way or the other. In Judea and Samaria, on the other hand, such conflicts are directed straight to the High Court of Justice. The proceedings in the High Court of Justice are completely different in all matters relating to the laws of evidence. The difference, along with the conspicuous tendency of the High Court to favor the property rights of the Arabs, creates severe discrimination toward the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria.
Incidentally, Ayelet Shaked’s involvement in this matter should be noted. From the very beginning of her term as Minister of Justice, Shaked determined that every law to be promoted during her term would immediately apply to Judea and Samaria as well. There is no doubt that this is an important and courageous decision. But this decision has an influence only on future laws and not on previous laws. Moreover, the decision creates a situation where every law that is discussed in Knesset will ignite a world war between the opposition and the coalition on the issue of its application to Judea and Samaria. This happened quite recently with Naftali Bennett’s decision to put the University of Ariel under the national Council of Higher Learning (and not under the Council of Higher Learning specific to Judea and Samaria), thus turning it, in actuality, into a full-fledged university.
From a political point of view, this is a perfect situation for the law. Likud MKs grant sweeping support to the law. HaBayit Hayehudi is attempting to bring about full annexation, and they can, of course, be expected to support this law. The haredi parties can also be expected to support the law, mainly for practical reasons – the law will greatly benefit the approximately 200 thousand haredim living beyond the Green Line. Moshe Kahlon, who, at the time of the Disengagement was in the group of “Likud rebels”, recently called for the application of sovereignty over the blocs of settlement. His personal inclination would be to support the law, so under certain conditions he would indeed support it. Lieberman is an enigma. The only thing left is to attain the prime minister’s support for the law.
Those who oppose the law on the Left claim, of course, that it would perpetuate the occupation, with “creeping annexation” and a policy of apartheid. The truth is that the law does the exact opposite. It does away with long years of discrimination against the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, and gives them the same rights as any other citizen of Israel. The law comes during a perfect political situation. The prime minister is trying to maintain his political base during the period of elections. The administration in the U.S. is the most sympathetic toward Israel that perhaps ever has been. And of course, the understanding that Jewish settlement of Judea and Samaria is a fait accompli is deeply ingrained among most of Israel's residents. All of these things mean that we must pass the law immediately. There will never be a better situation.