Court: Destroy Illegal Palestinian Homes
by Dan Izenberg
THE JERUSALEM POST
Sep. 10, 2009

For the first time, the High Court of Justice on Wednesday ordered the state to
demolish illegal structures built by Palestinians in the West Bank. Until now,
the court had only ordered the state to implement demolition orders against
illegal construction by Jewish settlers, since these were the only kinds of
petitions that had been filed.

In Wednesday's decision, Justices Edna Arbel, Elyakim Rubinstein and Hanan
Meltzer ordered the state to implement demolition orders that the civil
administration had issued against two Palestinian houses near the villages of
Sauya and Yatma in the West Bank. It also ordered the state to prepare a
schedule for demolishing other illegally built Palestinian houses against which
it had issued but failed to execute demolition orders.

The decision came in response to a petition filed by Regavim, which describes
itself as "a non-political movement whose aim is to protect national lands and
properties and to prevent other elements from illegally taking over national
land resources."

It is the first time that the High Court has ordered the state to demolish
Palestinian buildings against which demolition orders have been served.
Regavim's lawyer, Amir Fisher, said in the wake of the ruling that "as of
tomorrow, we will file more petitions pointing to illegal construction and
Palestinian outposts [a reference to clusters of illegally built housing] in
Judea and Samaria."

The court has already ordered the state to submit timetables for the demolition
of illegal construction by Jewish settlers in many settlements and outposts.

"The difference," said Michael Sfard, who has represented many of the
petitioners, "is that in my cases, the settlers built on privately-owned
Palestinian land."

In the case of the two buildings in Sauya and Yatma, the ownership of the land
is unknown but there is virtually no possibility that it is privately owned by
Jews.

In Wednesday's decision, the High Court quoted statistics presented by the state
according to which the civil administration has issued 50 demolition orders
against illegal construction in Sauya since 1996, but has only executed three of
them. In Yatma, the civil administration has demolished 10 illegal houses since
1986 and has issued demolition orders against 30 others.

During a hearing of the petition on September 3, Justice Edna Arbel expressed
dismay at the figures.

"Everyone would agree that it is very strange that over 14 years only three
demolition orders were carried out in Sauya out of 50 that were issued," she
said.

At the same hearing, Justice Hanan Meltzer asked the state whether "the attitude
towards illegal construction by Palestinians is the same as it is towards Jewish
settlers? Is there a difference in the order of priorities?"

The state's representative, Hila Gorny, had argued that the state could not be
obliged to demolish illegal Palestinian buildings according to which ones were
the subject of petitions to the High Court.

Meanwhile, Alon Cohen-Lifshitz of the human rights organization Bimkom, told The
Jerusalem Post that Israel has pursued a consistent policy of preventing new
construction by Palestinians in Area C, which is under Israeli administrative
and security control and compromises 60 percent of the entire West Bank. Sauya
and Yatma are both located in Area C.

"In the years between 2000 and 2007, the civil administration has issued an
average of 60 demolition orders per month against Palestinian buildings in Area
C and, at the same time, has approved an average of one request per month for
building permits by Palestinians," he said. He added that building plans for the
Palestinian villages in Area C were very limited and restricted, which meant
that Palestinians cannot build there legally.

[Chaim T: ...and why should arabs be allowed to build illegally, when Jews are
not allowed to build illegally, and now even legally! I call it racism. What do
you call it? I'm happily surprise that the High Court is no enforcing the law
equally, instead of only preventing Jews from building.


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