High Court to hear petition against home demolition of accused Hamas terrorist

Last week Netanyahu ordered the IDF to raze terrorists home as he reinstated an Israeli punitive measure of demolition terrorists homes.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
IDF bulldozer 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
IDF bulldozer 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The High Court of Justice is scheduled this morning to hear a petition against the demolition of the rental apartment in in the West Bank village of Idhana, in which accused Hamas terrorist Ziad Awwad has lived for the last two years.
A military court indicted Awwad last week on murder charges for allegedly killing Baruch Mizrahi,  47, on Passover eve, as he drove with his family on Route 35 in the West Bank to a Seder in the Kiryat Arba settlement.
Awwad allegedly stood on the side of Route 35 and shot at passing vehicles, including Mizrahi’s, immediately, killing him and lightly injuring one of this children. A child another vehicle was also lightly injured.
Last week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the IDF to raze Awwad’s home as he reinstated an Israeli punitive measure of demolition terrorists homes, which had been discontinued in 2005.
On Friday, the IDF served Awwad’s family with a demolition order set for Monday at noon for the apartment that he has rented for the past two years in the home of brother Muhammad, in the Hebron region.
The Israeli non-governmental group HaMoked filed an emergency petition to the HCJ, which agreed to hear the case at 11 a.m., just one hour before the demolition is set to take place.
HaMoked has asked the HCJ for an interim injunction to prevent the demolition until a verdict is issued in Awwad’s case and all legal proceedings are concluded.
Separately, it said, an injunction is also needed to allow for a professional opinion with regard to demolition the apartment, without damaging the rest of the home. 
The HCJ scheduled a hearing, but did not grant any injunctions.
Awwad had been sentenced to life in prison in 1993 for killing Palestinians he accused of collaborating with Israel. He was one of 1,027 prisoners released by Israel in exchange for captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit in October 2011. Their release was conditioned on a pledge that they not engage in terror.