The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel and two residents of the Ulpana outpost on
Sunday submitted a petition requesting the High Court to annul its
earlier order to evacuate the Ulpana by July.
The Ulpana outpost is located on the outskirts of the West Bank settlement of Beit El.
The
petition also asked the court to freeze any action that the military or
law enforcement authorities might take to destroy or evacuate the
structures pending a decision by the Jerusalem District Court on the
substantive issue of whether the Jewish Ulpana's current residents
acquired their land rights legally.
The petitioners claim that
the earlier High Court decision violated natural justice principles and
that the court had exceeded its jurisdiction, since the facts regarding
ownership have not been fully litigated.
The case before the
Jerusalem District Court over whether the current residents acquired
property rights legally is not expected to be resolved in the near
future. A decision to delay the evacuation until that case is resolved
would effectively be an indefinite delay.
The government and
others have sought to delay any action to evacuate the Ulpana outpost in
the past based on the same argument, but to no avail. The High Court
and the government have maintained that the outpost was illegal for
years.
According to this line of argument, there is no reason to
delay evacuation pending the latest Jerusalem District Court case, as
the outcome is already apparent, and the case itself is somewhat
superfluous.
The petition claims that new evidence was introduced
in the lower court proceeding regarding the issue of ownership. Neither
the government nor the High Court have recognized the evidence as new
or outcome-changing.
The petitioners also argue that the
residents cannot be evacuated before the court holds a series of
proceedings on how to compensate the residents financially and to
address the question of relocation, neither of which have been discussed
before the court.
Although the court itself has not discussed
issues of compensation and relocation, the government has been trying to
address these problems for some time. However, many Ulpana residents
have resisted on engaging in a dialogue on these issues as they are
concerned that it would show a lack of resolve on their desire to remain
at the Ulpana outpost.
Meanwhile, ministerial and Knesset
committees were taking up a number of proposed legislative solutions for
addressing the Ulpana and other outposts in dispute.