Despite the absolute aptness of placing the UN on the Hill of Evil Council - by Vic Rosenthal

...Here is an opportunity to take a stand for sovereignty and against the corrupt and anti-Jewish UN. Despite the absolute aptness of placing the UN on the Hill of Evil Council, the site does not belong to them. If they need a headquarters in our country, they should be required to rent office space like anyone else. I know a presently unoccupied spot in Tel Aviv’s Central Bus Station that they can get cheap.

Vic Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
08 May '17..

[The British High Commissioner] grabbed the most fantastic place in the world … built a palace there, and every morning when he wakes up and opens his eyes … can see from the palace windows the loftiest and most holy view in the world, as if it were his.

– Yehuda Haezrahi, City of Stone and Sky, quoted by Nadav Shragai

After the First World War, the British became the last in a line of foreign powers ruling over Judea, including Jerusalem. Like any conqueror, the British built monumental palaces for its administrators. From 1920 to 1927, the High Commissioner’s residence and offices were located in the Augusta Victoria Church and hospital compound on the Mount of Olives. A beautiful place, but after it was damaged in an earthquake, the Empire decided to build a new and even more glorious seat of power at a spot with an even better view, the Hill of Evil Council (not “Counsel”) – so called by the Byzantine Christians because it was said to be where Temple priests met to discuss betraying Jesus.

The grand building was constructed between 1928 and 1933, and its first resident was High Commissioner Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, who seems to have been one of the better ones. It is a stunningly beautiful building (the UN renovated it in 2012) in one of the most beautiful spots in the world. I can’t imagine how much the property is worth (maybe Donald Trump could). In Hebrew, it’s called Armon Hanatizv (the commissioner’s palace), and that also became the name of the neighborhood around it.

In 1948 when Britain was forced to retreat from Palestine by yet another indigenous revolt in its rapidly fragmenting Empire, it transferred control of the property to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which gave it to the UN. It was part of the Demilitarized Zone which existed until 1967, when it came under Israeli control. The UN demanded it back, and after an abortive struggle, Israel knuckled under. Nadav Shragai explains the historical details and legal issues here.

The UN has since made modifications to the building, appropriated land adjoining the main structure and put up additional buildings, all – needless to say – without obtaining permits from the municipal authorities. The UN did not purchase the site, and never paid rent or municipal taxes on it. The most recent official reason for the UN presence there was to house the observers responsible for monitoring the truce in effect after 1967. This has long since become irrelevant; as Shragai notes “Israel has peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt, and in Syria everyone is fighting everyone.”

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Soft colonialism

Seth Frantzman
Terra Incognita/JPost
12 January '10

The lead car in a convoy of consular vehicles attempts to run over an Israeli security guard, and the drivers make obscene gestures at female soldiers. A car belonging to the Temporary International Presence in Hebron drives onto the sidewalk and parks illegally in front of Jerusalem's central post office so its occupants don't have to pay for parking while they drop off a letter. The Belgian Consulate in Jerusalem refuses to pay rent, living in the property for free for more than 20 years, because it doesn't recognize the owner's right to charge rent or Israel's right to adjudicate the matter. EU countries give millions of euros to people living here, aid earmarked either solely for Arabs or for NGOs that "break the silence" regarding IDF "war crimes," among other things.

These incidents and many others that take place on a daily basis in Israel and the West Bank are part of a creeping soft colonialism that has been going on since 1948. However these infringements on Israel's sovereignty have become more flagrant in recent years. Rather than according the country more respect, the foreigners - particularly Europeans - who come here, usually as part of some international or diplomatic mission, have increased their outward displays of nonrecognition of Israel's right to govern itself. The same foreigners who gladly submit to long border checks and security checks in Jordan, Morocco, Botswana or Malaysia believe they do not have to obey laws in Israel or in what they perceive as occupied territories.

ONE OF the strangest examples of this has been the dispute between the Belgian Consulate and the state over its property in the Talbiyeh neighborhood of Jerusalem. Villa Salameh was built in the 1930s by Marcel Favier, a French architect. It was named after the wealthy Arab family that lived in the house until 1948. After the war, it was classified as "absentee property" along with the properties of other Arabs who fled during the hostilities.

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