The story is absurd: Abu Jaber and his pine tree ›

cc: wikipedia | Jerusalem pine tree

The absurd story of the police’s attitude to Abu Jaber: Another sad anecdote about a regime which discriminates on the basis of ethnicity

On Sunday, 14.10.12, 70-year old Abu Jaber from Safa Beit Omer was detained, accused of cutting down a protected tree – a pine tree – on his land.  He was released the same day after the intervention of  RHR lawyers.  This is an absurd story on several levels:

1.  Abu Jaber has suffered numerous violent “Tag Mehir” attacks on the part of settlers from Bat Ayin, which is near his house, and nothing was done about these attacks by the legal authorities.

2.  The tree is a pine tree which was planted by Abu Jaber’s father, on land the family holds, and Abu Jaber cut it down for domestic purposes.

3. The prohibition on cutting down protected trees applies also to land occupied or owned privately.  However, the pine tree is not on the list of protected trees at all.

4. Even if Abu Jaber had committed the offence of cutting down a protected tree, this is an administrative offence for which the punishment is a fine and certainly not detention for hours – certainly not when dealing with an elderly 70-year old.

This is another sad anecdote about a regime which discriminates on the basis of ethnicity.

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