West Bank – High Court Orders Demolition Of 9 Homes In Settlement Of Ofra

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    FILE - A boy stands near an Israeli flag in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ofra, north of Ramallah July 18, 2013.  ReutersWest Bank – The High Court of Justice on Sunday ordered the demolition of nine populated homes on private Palestinian property in the West Bank settlement of Ofra within two years.

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    “It is understood that this decision has painful and difficult implications for the residents and their families, who have settled and are integrated into the community,” outgoing Supreme Court President Justice Asher D. Grunis wrote in his decision on the case.

    The case was decided by Grunis, incoming Supreme Court President Miriam Naor and Supreme Court Justice Isaac Amit.

    The ruling follows on the heels of a High Court decision on December 25 to demolish within two years the Amona outpost of 45 families located on the outskirts of Ofra.

    The Ofra decision is unusual, because “it is not often that the High Court rules that homes in a settlement should be demolished,” said Sarit Michaeli of B’Tselem – The Israel Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. Her organization – along with left-wing group Yesh Din and five Palestinian owners of the property – petitioned the High Court against the homes in 2008. At the time, the buildings were under construction, but since then, families have moved into the stone structures.

    Attorney Shlomy Zachary, who represented Yesh Din and the Palestinian land owners, said that the Supreme Court had unequivocally clarified that property ownership was a basic right that must be protected by law.

    He added that he hoped the state would now do some soul searching so that the “outrageous attitude” that had allowed the law to be broken in the first place would not be repeated.

    Bezalel Smotrich, who is No. 9 on Bayit Yehudi’s electoral list, said the ruling “sets a dangerous precedent that could lead to the demolition of hundreds of similar structures in Ofra and other settlements.”

    Ofra is located 15 kilometers over the pre- 1967 lines in the Binyamin region of the West Bank. It is outside the boundaries of the security barrier and is considered an isolated settlement.

    The community is considered a legal settlement under Israeli law because the government approved it in the 1970s, even though it fails to meet all the technical criteria for an approved community.

    An overall master plan for the settlement of 3,400 people was never approved and as such many of its buildings are considered unauthorized.

    The settlement’s situation is particularly complicated because many of the homes are situated on land that is privately owned by Palestinians.

    Last year, the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria approved a master plan for a small portion of the settlement located on state land, in an area of the community that was formerly part of a Jordanian military camp.

    But that master plan does not apply to these nine homes.

    During the course of the case, settlers and the state argued that the homes should be allowed because the status of the land was no different than that of many other homes in the settlement.

    The homes, they added, were built within the settlement and were not an attempt to extend the community’s boundaries.

    Both the settlers and the state said they were concerned about the impact of a demolition order on the status of the rest of the settlement.

    But Sunday’s ruling dealt solely with the nine homes.

    The decision noted that the civil administration had issued multiple stop work injunctions against the homes while they were under construction.

    It is not possible to allow the homes to remain standing since they are built on private Palestinian property, and there is a clear policy against such building, the justices said. Failure to demolish the homes would harm the rule of law and the rights of the Palestinian land owners, they added.

    They ordered the defendants to pay the plaintiffs NIS 25,000. The justices noted that a February 8, 2017 deadline was given for the demolition to allow the families in the homes to find alternative housing.

    In a minority opinion, Naor said she believed more time could have been given to explore the possibility of legalizing the homes, but that ultimately, she concurred with ruling’s conclusion. Grunis and Amit said it was unlikely that conditions existed that would allow for the homes to be authorized.‎


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    8 Comments
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    rebshmuel
    rebshmuel
    9 years ago

    Amazing how much zeal the high court has when it comes to demolishing Jewish homes as opposed to illegal Arab homes

    9 years ago

    Israel should keep on demolishing homes and then cry and stampede that the palistinians are murderers. The Israelis are securing their demise by fueling violence with these provocative actions. But of course all we hear is the Israeli plaintive cry that everyone is hunting them. But they are allowed to do whatever they please.

    9 years ago

    Whats “painful” about demolishing illegal structures on some else’s private property whether its Jewish or Arab. EY is a nation of laws and respect for property rights. Apparently those who built these illegal structures were warned repeatedly they were breaking the law. The government should send them a bill for the costs of demolition as well.

    mordche
    mordche
    9 years ago

    Thay should demolish all these houses in these settlements and give them back to the arabs
    I don’t understand its a stolen land its nor ours why do we think we control the land hashem never gave us רשות for it
    Demolish them all……..
    Give them to the Palestinians………..

    (btw this is the דעת הבריסקער רב והסאטמאר רב this is nothing to do with נטורי קרתא because I’m not saying that we love the Palestinians all I’m saying is its there land and we have no right to take it for ourselves until משיח will come במהרה בימינו אמן

    PrettyBoyFloyd
    PrettyBoyFloyd
    9 years ago

    My Torah says that this land is our נחלה. To me that means forever.

    9 years ago

    Where is the outcry from all the human rights groups who screamed their condemnation when Israel destroyed the illegally built homes of the Arabs????? Why is there always a double standard in favor of the terrorists and against Israel?