The Judge of the District Court in Jerusalem, Oded Shaham, criticized yesterday (Thursday) in a hearing before him the incompetence of the authorities in dealing with damage to archaeological findings in the illegal quarry in Beit Fajar.
The quarry, located south of Kibbutz Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion, has been operating at the site for several years without interference, despite the fact that the enforcement activity at the site is not given any permission. The Regavim movement has been working through legal channels to stop the quarry’s activity for several years. The current petition, third in number on the same issue, was submitted to the District Court in Jerusalem last August.
Regavim’s lawyers, Avi Segal and Yael Sinamon, claimed in the petition that the state does not enforce the law and does not act against the mining operations taking place there, despite a commitment given to the court on its behalf in 2020. The commitment even received the status of a judgment, but despite this the quarrying and mining operations in the place continue It is also claimed in the petition that under the auspices of the inaction of the authorities, throughout the past year the criminals expanded their illegal activity in the quarry, took over more state lands, and caused the complete destruction of archaeological finds from the Second Temple period. Among other things, the operators of the quarry destroyed the “Amet Arouv” tunnel, which was part of an elaborate system of aqueducts that flowed the water from the abundant springs in the mountains of Bethlehem and Hebron south of Jerusalem and from Shlomo’s pools to Jerusalem.
The state attorney’s office claimed in its response to the petition that, contrary to Regavim’s claims, the issue of illegal mining in the quarry is handled on two levels. The Civil Administration is working, on the one hand, to allow certain mining in the place legally, through the approval of an outline plan that will integrate the criminality in the place. However, the promotion of the plan to train the quarry was stopped following the decision of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee on the matter from February 2022, and soon the political echelon should be called upon to address the issue once again.
On the other hand, the prosecutor’s office claimed that enforcement actions against illegal mining were carried out at the site twice during the year 2022. In February, when four heavy tools were disabled at the site, and in September, when one heavy tool was disabled and a marble saw was seized. In the state’s response, it is claimed that during 2022 additional enforcement actions were planned at the quarry, but they did not come to fruition due to the need to allocate the security forces designated for the mission to other, more urgent operational needs. In the state’s answer, it was also stated regarding the claims of damage to archaeology, that it is a damage that occurred in 2005 and has not been expanded since then.
The Regevs did not receive the state’s answer and in their response to the district court they claimed that the enforcement there was poor compared to the options. “Random confiscation of six work tools over two years cannot be considered an enforcement action when it is such a large quarry that the construction criminals who operate it pocket hundreds of millions of shekels every year,” their response reads. Raghavim also added that the plan that was promoted is also not expected to legalize most of the illegal mining activity in the place. Regarding the damage to archeology, the Regevs claimed that contrary to what was said in the state’s response, the damage to the second Arab tunnel is continuing right now.
At the hearing in the district court, Judge Shaham asked the representative of the prosecution to get clear data about the situation in the quarry as of today, but such data from the state was not presented. In response, Judge Shaham criticized the authorities and wondered “Have you checked the situation on the ground? Has anyone ever been on the ground?” The judge added and demanded that the state present him with updated information on what is happening in the field within 30 days. According to him, “photos were shown documenting the situation on the ground with an emphasis on quarrying works carried out near the water source, completions, tests on the ground, aerial photographs, an affidavit from the archeology department or another relevant entity are required.” At the end of the hearing, the judge announced that after the state submits the update notice The Regevs have an opportunity to respond to it, and then a decision will be made on the continuation of the petition.
