High Court Rebukes Government Over Demolition Delay

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – In a scathing rebuke, High Court Justice Noam Sohlberg on Tuesday rejected the state’s request for a four-month delay in the demolition of the illegal Bedouin outpost of Khan al-Ahmar.

Justice Sohlberg wrote in his ruling: “This extension is the ninth, and the petition has been pending for nearly four years. We have repeatedly expressed our dissatisfaction with the repeated foot-dragging”.

“Suffice it to say, we are not at all comfortable with the conduct of the State’s respondents, which has even been self-contradictory,” citing repeated affirmations that the demolition orders will be carried out, while the state continues it dilatory approach.

“This course of action may be acceptable outside the walls of the court, but it is not acceptable to us”, Justice Sohlberg wrote.

He gave the government two months in which to return to the court with a statement of its position.

The Netanyahu government has reportedly been under intense international pressure to suspend the evacuation of a building at the site in east Yerushalayim where 100 Palestinian families reside.

Western diplomats said that the embassies of the U.S., U.K. and several other countries had contacted the Prime Minister’s Office to express concern about the fate of the families, according to The Jerusalem Post.

A Kan 11 report attributed the government’s delay to security issues.

Shabak chief Ronen Bar and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy are said to have warned Prime Minister Netanyahu that carrying out of the demolition could trigger a wave of violent protests. In response, Netanyahu called off the demolition.

The right-wing Regavim organization, which filed the original petition against the illegal outpost, responded to the Court’s decision, saying: “Even on such a cold day, the pCourt should not pull the chestnuts out of the fire for the Israeli government. The government should formulate a working plan for the evacuation and enforcement of the law in Khan al-Ahmar, as part of a fight against the Palestinian Authority’s institutionalized takeover of the open areas in Judea and Samaria.”

“The State of Israel must behave like the owner of the house, even in the face of American pressure, otherwise no one in the world will take the State of Israel seriously.” added Regavim.