The village council of Wadi e-Rasha in the West Bank petitions High Court to issue an order allowing village residents to access their olive groves.
By DAN IZENBERGFayyad olives 311 AP(photo credit: Associated Press)
The village council of Wadi e-Rasha in the West Bank, with the assistance of the human rights group Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights, petitioned the High Court of Justice on Tuesday to issue an order allowing village residents to access their olive groves on the “Israeli” side of the security barrier.The petition was submitted after the villagers filed 98 requests to access their lands and all were rejected by the IDF Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria.RELATED:'Palestinian olives stolen, groves vandalized'Wadi e-Rasha is one of five villages that were originally trapped in an enclave created by the security barrier route near the Jewish settlement of Alfei Menashe. In response to a petition by village residents several years ago, the High Court ordered the barrier moved so that the villages would be territorially reunited with the West Bank. Nevertheless, Wadi e-Rasha’s agricultural fields and groves remained on the other side of the barrier.“This case shows that the authorities not only fail to protect the Palestinians from right-wing Jewish extremists, but also prevent them from exercising their legal right to harvest their own olives,” said Yesh Din attorney Michael Sfard.
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