Beinisch slams state on W. Bank road

Says state did nothing to prevent violation of court order.

By DAN IZENBERG
dorit beinisch 311 Ariel Jerozolimski (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
dorit beinisch 311 Ariel Jerozolimski
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch blasted the state on Wednesday over the the fact that a interim injunction the court issued on April 5, 2009, ordering a halt to construction of a road built partly on private Palestinian land, was violated and the state did nothing to prevent it.
Beinisch made her remarks during a hearing on an action by Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights, which petitioned the court in March 2009, demanding that the state implement orders issued by the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria to demolish the illegal road.
According to Yesh Din attorney Shlomi Zecharya, the petition was filed after the route had been laid out but before it was paved. The petitioners also said the road cut off access from farmers from the Palestinian village of Karyut to 1,500 dunams (150 hectares) of farmland.
The road is meant to link the illegal Hayovel outpost to the nearby Eli settlement.
In April 2009, the court issued an interim injunction ordering a halt to all work on the road. Nevertheless, construction continued and part of the road was paved. In fact, the paved part of the road is currently being used by the army despite the military administration’s order to demolish it.
“If the Hayovel outpost is illegal, and we know it is, and if the land is privately owned, how is it possible to pave a road on it,” Beinisch asked.
The state’s representative, Hila Gorney, said that only part of theroad was privately owned and that the ownership status of anothersection was in dispute and had not been resolved. She said the army hadto make use of this part of the road, which was not privately owned.
When she was asked about another road nearby that could serve the samepurpose, Gorney informed the court that it no longer existed.
“Things are happening right in front of your eyes, Justice Esther Hayutsaid. “You have such sophisticated sight equipment in the area and yetyou don’t see what is going on there. When one road causes injury toprivate property, the solution must be found elsewhere. How can it bethat there was another access road and now there is not?”