The Jerusalem Magistrate Court ruled Peace Now and two of its
activists, Hagit Ofran and Dror Etkes, must apologize to the
settlers they degraded and provide them monetary
compensation.
The two organization members published a report two years ago
under the headline "Aveiroh Goreires Aveiroh" that
claimed to prove that most of the land where Judea and
Samaria settlements are located was stolen from Palestinians.
For example, the report states that 71.15 percent of the
Revava settlement (in central Samaria) lies on stolen
land.
The Foundation for Land Redemption, which fully owns the land
Revava was built on, reacted by producing evidence to the
contrary based on official land registry data on hundreds of
dunams of land and state land grants, and demanded that Peace
Now correct the report and issue an apology. Since the
authors of the report refused to apologize and made only a
partial correction (claiming 22 percent rather than 71
percent of the settlement was built on Palestinian land) the
foundation sued Peace Now and the authors of the report for
libel.
In its ruling the court ordered the defendants to pay a fine
of NIS 20,000 + VAT and print a prominent apology in the news
section of two mass circulation newspapers.
Following the decision, the petitioners' attorney said, "The
time has come to put an end to the constant lies by various
left-wing organizations frequently published in the media.
The Israeli public should cast doubt on every report they
issue. The settlers in Judea and Samaria have to learn to
stand up for their reputation."
