Journey With Jonathan: Entry #6
February 12: Today, I attended the hearing for Daoud Nassar regarding the registration of his land, which has long been under threat. Since my law office in Jerusalem represents Daoud Nassar and the Tent of Nations, I was able to attend the hearing in my official capacity as his attorney, together with Sani Khoury from my Jerusalem office. Daoud was also there with his wife Jehan.
After many postponements, this hearing was supposed to be the final one—with the 9 separate “objectors” bringing forth all of their documents and witnesses.
The objectors, including the Custodian of Absentee Property, again failed to appear except for one, and their objections were dismissed. However, one remaining objector, whose claim had been previously dismissed did appear today with a lawyer who used to be a military prosecutor at the military courts for 10 years. He claimed to have submitted an affidavit containing the evidence of his client’s objections and that he had sent it to our offices by registered mail. He also claims to have 20 witnesses to support his claim. We have never seen any of his supposed evidence, and we do not know what his claim is based upon. Nonetheless, the Objections Committee decided to give him a chance and ordered him to submit the substance of the claim and the “testimony” of his 20 witnesses to us in writing by Feb. 22nd as well as bring all his witnesses with him to a hearing set for March 2nd.
We do not know what will happen on March 2nd, but we will continue to fight this matter. As I told Daoud, this fight is not only for the registration of the land but also for permission to build upon it, and the fight is being fought not only before the Objections Committee but in the public arena. The letters of concern sent to public officials in the US and around the world and the steadfastness of the Nassar family, as well as the solidarity and prayers of those who share his vision throughout the world, are absolutely necessary for his ability to maintain his land and turn it into a true “Tent of Nations,” a place we can support his vision for “refusing to be enemies” while maintaining his right to live in his own land without harassment.
February 23 Update: Today, there was a full strike across the West Bank as anger over the Israeli incursion into Nablus, with 11 martyrs and 100 wounded, was reflected in the anger of the population.
For my part, I went to the Tent of Nations for a prearranged meeting with the Representative of the Netherlands to the Palestinian Authority and an EU Parliamentarian, to fill them in on the legal status of the struggle to register the Nassar family land. They were supportive and offered to issue a statement in advance of the next hearing.
The last hearing on Feb. 12 was to be the last in a long series of hearings where the “Objections Committee” of the Civil Administration-Beit El would hear objections to the registration of the property in the name of the Nasser family. 9 objections had been filed, including one by the Custodian of Absentee Property, but none of the Objectors had produced any evidence of rights or ownership over the land. At the previous hearing, the Committee tried to get the Objectors to come and present their evidence, but none of them showed up, including the Custodian of Absentee Property. 3 of the Objectors had merely claimed a right of way and, after reaching an agreement with the Nassars, had filed with the Committee statements that they withdrew their objections, which the Committee reluctantly accepted. The others were dismissed but informed that they still had a chance to be reinstated, if they filed proper evidence and paid a cost of 1500 shekels to the court and 1500 shekels to the attorneys of the Nassars.
At the Feb. 12 hearing, the Objectors again did not appear, except for one who appeared with an attorney who had been a military prosecutor for Israel in the military courts for 10 years. This attorney lied to the court, claiming that he had sent his objections to our office (my Jerusalem office represents Daoud Nassar), that he had wired 1500 shekels into my office account as well, and that he had 20 witnesses to support his client’s claim! We denied receiving any documents or monies as of that morning, yet the Committee nonetheless gave that Objector an opportunity to file the substance of his client’s claim and affidavits from the 20 witnesses by Feb. 22. It set another hearing for March 2, asking the Objector to bring all his witnesses to the court on that date as well to hear their evidence.
As expected, no documents were sent to our office by that date. So, we filed a demand that since all 9 objectors, including the Custodian of Absentee Property, had been dismissed and the 9th objector had failed to meet the requirements of the Committee to be reinstated, there was no reason even to hold the hearing on March 2 and that a Registration Certificate should be issued forthwith. Daoud is hopeful that we can now proceed and get the registration we need.
Past experience, however, tells us that the Committee, which had been dragging its feet all along and showed itself willing to delay or refuse to register the property throughout the course of many years, may yet find another reason to delay the process, grant the 9th objector another extension or otherwise revive his “claim,” and delay matters again. Stay tuned for an update on March 2.
More importantly, we know that just registering the property and having our ownership acknowledged, while very important, is hardly sufficient. We still need to fight an even longer legal battle to get permission to build on the land. Daoud Nassar has dreams of building a true peace center on that property, with an environmental center, a guest house, a church, and a clinic. That property will then truly be a Tent of Nations and a presence for peace and reconciliation. I am proud our law office is part of this struggle, and all of you who have written and acted on his behalf can feel good about also being part of this struggle.
