Court orders hearings on illegal outposts

Court gives state four months to report back to it on the progress made.

By DAN IZENBERG
supreme court 298.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
supreme court 298.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
The High Court of Justice on Monday ordered the state to immediately begin hearings for the residents of 12 buildings in the illegal Hayovel outpost and six buildings in the illegal Haresha outpost as a prelude to executing demolition orders issued four years ago. "We have decided to order the state to begin proceedings toward fulfilling the orders that it issued," wrote Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and Justices Elyakim Rubinstein and Yoram Danziger. "Under the circumstances, we have decided that before making a final decision on the petition, there is reason to begin the necessary hearing procedures without further delay." The court gave the state four months to report back to it on the progress made in conducting the hearings. Monday's decision came in the wake of a petition filed in 2005 by Peace Now and Dror Etkes, who now works for the Yesh Din human rights organization, demanding that the state implement demolition orders it had issued against the buildings in the two illegal outposts. All of the buildings are built on survey land whose status is unclear, except for two buildings in Hayovel which were built on privately owned, but unregistered, Palestinian land.