J'lem court finds cellular phone antenna illegal

A Jerusalem court has found that a cellular phone antenna erected in the city's Har Homa neighborhood is illegal, the city said Monday. The city's Small Claims Court convicted the Cellcom cellular phone company for illegally erecting the towering antenna on the roof of a health clinic in the neighborhood's commercial center, and fined the company NIS 15,000. The court ordered the company to take down the antenna within six months, but, in a blow to neighborhood residents who have been waging a two-year-old legal campaign against the antenna, gave the company the opportunity to delay the decision if they apply for a permit for the antenna at the site within two months, the city said. A second cell phone antenna at the site belonging to the Pelephone Company was determined to be legal.