The Israeli high court of justice has approved the demolition of Palestinian buildings near the illegal settlement bloc of Gush Etzion north of al-Khalil at the pretext they were built illegally.
According to Israel’s Channel 7 the high court gave the Israeli authorities one week to set a date for the demolition of the Palestinian buildings which Regavim — a far-right group advocating the demolition of Palestinian property — claimed they were built illegally near Gush Etzion.
Regavim has accused the Palestinian family of Shalaldeh from the West Bank village of Sa’ir of invading a tract of land near Pnei Kedem outpost — part of Gush Etzion settlements — seizing the road leading to the outpost building a group of illegal buildings and farming plots of land. However the family possesses documents proving its ownership of the land.
Regavim also accuses the Israeli army’s civil administration in the occupied West Bank of having ignored for five years court decisions approving the demolition of the Palestinian buildings in the area.
In its decision the high court criticized the civil administration for delaying the execution of court orders in this regard and gave it another chance to determine a date for the demolitions especially since the appeals filed by the Palestinian residents of the area had been rejected.
