Two days after the demolition in Givat A'ira Shachar in Binyamin and the claims by associates of Smotrich that the settlement was situated on "private Arab lands, and therefore its evacuation was legally unavoidable," a group of Zionist rabbis issued an extraordinary letter yesterday (Wednesday) to public figures, criticizing these statements and asserting that many areas defined as "private lands" are not actually such. They emphasized that there is no reason for the State of Israel to respect the arbitrary registration of the Jordanian government.
"Arbitrary and unauthorized registration of the Jordanian government that ruled the country in the days before the Six Day War"
In the exceptional letter that is being issued against the backdrop of the statements made after the demolition – according to which the settlement is situated on "private Arab lands" and therefore must be evacuated – the rabbis criticize these statements and label them as "misleading the public, stemming from a lack of understanding of the legal reality of the lands of Judea and Samaria."
In their letter, the rabbis explain that many lands in Judea and Samaria defined as "private lands" were never purchased by any owners and their origin is based on a declarative and unauthorized registration by the Jordanian authorities that controlled the area before the Six-Day War. The letter is signed by, among others, Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi David Chai HaCohen, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, and Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, alongside several other rabbis.
The rabbis explained: "The so-called 'owners' do not know at all that the land is registered in their name"
In the opening of their letter, the rabbis wrote: "Dear elected officials, we address you with a demand to act with all your might against the demolitions of settlement points throughout Judea and Samaria. There are those who claim that certain settlement points are situated on 'private Arab lands,' and therefore they are deemed for evacuation. This claim is misleading the public, which stems from a misunderstanding of the legal reality of the lands of Judea and Samaria."
The rabbis added and explained: "Shortly before the liberation of Judea and Samaria, King Hussein of Jordan arbitrarily and without any authority distributed wide areas of Judea and Samaria to various clans. This act has never been realized; the fields were not cultivated, and in most cases, these are rocky lands whose so-called 'owners' are entirely unaware that the lands are registered under their names. There is no reason for the State of Israel to honor Hussein's arbitrary allocation, thus enabling Arab takeover of very large portions of Judea and Samaria."
