Gush Shalom: Second Authority can't operate outside of Israel and cannot serve settler population.
By DAN IZENBERGsupreme court 22488 (photo credit: Channel 1)
The High Court of Justice has given the state until next Sunday to decide whether it is willing to establish a broadcasting authority in the West Bank, or whether it will insist that the Second Authority be responsible for the radio station ostensibly aimed at serving the Jewish population in the territories.
On August 2, 2007, the Second Authority for Television and Radio published a tender for a radio station to serve the West Bank. Two months later, Gush Shalom, a left-wing organization, petitioned the court, demanding that the tender be canceled.
Despite the petition, the tender proceeded and the only company to bid was chosen. The petition, however, is still pending.
The reason that the station is only "ostensibly" meant to serve the settler population is that according to a lawyer representing the company that won the tender, the broadcasts will reach a distance of 15 kilometers beyond the boundaries of the territories, meaning that it will be heard in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa.
A hearing in the High Court of Justice on Thursday revolved around the legal issued raised by the petitioner, represented by attorney Gaby Laski, regarding the fact that the military commander in the area, Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni, had ordered the Second Authority to issue a tender for a regional station to serve the West Bank.
By law, the Second Authority is not allowed to operate outside of Israel, Gush Shalom stated; moreover, it is unprecedented for a military commander to issue orders to a civilian authority, in this case the communications minister.
Gush Shalom also charged that none of the other regional stations governed by the Second Authority are permitted to contain one-sided political content.
Since the West Bank station will be primarily serving the settler population, an ideologically homogeneous population with a political agenda, it will by definition be a political station.
Gush Shalom spokesman Adam Keller said he did not oppose having a right-wing political station as long as other political streams were also given stations to express their views.
The petition could have greater significance than simply the battle over whether the Second Authority may operate the West Bank station, which is to be called "Radiosh," or whether the military commander must establish his own broadcasting authority.
There is a great deal of Israeli legislation that applies to the settlers in the West Bank on a personal, rather than a territorial basis.
According to international law, the law that applies in territory held under occupation must be the local law - in this case, Jordanian law - along with military orders issued by the military commander.
Although in certain legislation the Knesset has stipulated that the law also applies to the settlers in the territories, other laws are applied without the Knesset specifically referring to the settlers, a practice that has never been challenged in court. This situation is known as "the law of the enclaves."
The issue dealt with in this petition may raise questions about aspects of the law of the enclaves.
However, it differs from other cases for two reasons.
The first is that the military commander has given an order to the Second Authority and, consequently, the minister of communications. The second is that the Second Authority is explicitly prohibited from operating outside Israel.
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