Court again postpones two illegal outposts hearing

Ehud Barak needs time to study the situation, court gives the state until September to reply.

By DAN IZENBERG
illegal outpost 88 (photo credit: )
illegal outpost 88
(photo credit: )
The High Court of Justice has accepted a request by the state to postpone a hearing scheduled for Tuesday on petitions demanding that the state demolish 18 permanent structures in two illegal outposts, one built on land whose ownership is in dispute and the other built partly on private Palestinian land. This marks the second time in a month that the state has requested postponement of a date set by the court for a procedure involving a petition calling for the demolition of illegal, permanent construction. On July 8, the court agreed to give the state two more months to prepare a response to a petition calling for the dismantling of permanent buildings in Migron, near Kochav Ya'ir. Tuesday's case involved Hayovel and Haresha in Samaria. Peace Now petitioned the High Court to evacuate the inhabitants and demolish the buildings. Haresha was established in 1995 and is located about 1 1/2 kilometers from the settlement of Talmon. Hayovel was established in 1998, and is located about 1 1/2 kilometers from the settlement of Eli. The petition was filed in September 2005. On November 23, 2005, the High Court issued a show-cause order, instructing the state to explain why the permanent buildings in Haresha and Hayovel should not be demolished. After several delays, the final hearing on the petition was due to be held Tuesday. However, on Monday, the court acceded to the state's request to postpone the hearing in order to give Defense Minister Ehud Barak time to study the situation. As in the Migron case, the court gave the state until September 10 to submit its final reply to the petition.