Supreme Court slaps fine on West Bank contractors

Israel's Supreme Court fined two construction companies a total of 100,000 shekels (US $24,000, €18,000) Thursday for continuing to build in a West Bank settlement in violation of a court injunction. The court ordered construction a neighborhood in the Modi'in Illit settlement to be suspended about a year ago because the companies were building without authorization on private Palestinian land. But the companies ignored the temporary court injunction and began building a new road in the neighborhood to service residents.