‘Abandoning its pretense of impartiality’: Right irate after High Court annuls law that legalizes thousands of homes in Judea and Samaria
Right-wing politicians and several organizations assailed Israel’s High Court of Justice after it ruled on Tuesday that the Regulation Law, which was formulated to save some 4,000 Israeli homes in Judea and Samaria, is unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court and the Knesset buildings. Jerusalem, Feb 13, 2017. Photo by Hillel Maeir/TPS
Passed in 2017, the Regulation Law legalizes Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria that was built with state involvement, possibly on private land.
The law stipulates that homes built on private land will not be demolished, the land will be expropriated, and the owner will be compensated.
The law pertains to thousands of cases in which Israelis built homes with government consent or encouragement, later to discover that the land’s ownership is in dispute. In many cases, the alleged landowners have no evidence to support their claims.
The Court ruled that the law hindered individual rights. Incidentally, the only judge of the nine-member panel who ruled that the law was legitimate is a resident of Judea and Samaria.
The Likud stated that it would revise the law to meet the Court’s ruling and revote it into law.
However, the Blue and White party, its chief coalition partner, may not support such a move.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein accused the High Court of “losing it.”
The High Court has “made itself the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches at the same time. We must put an end to this,” he stated, saying that the way to do this is through a special law.
“If the High Court does not recognize its limitations, the Knesset will draw the line,” he added.
The Regavim Movement, which was one of the initiators of the Regulation Law, sarcastically “congratulated” the High Court for “finally removing its mask and abandoning its pretence of impartiality.”
“Just last week, the Justices of the High Court urged the state to regulate widespread illegal Arab settlement in Mount Hebron and the Negev by taking steps that include retroactive approval of thousands of illegally-built homes and expropriation of Jewish-owned private land. The Justices stressed that ‘the High Court does not run the country,” Regavim noted.
The High Court “ruled against the self-evident authority of the legislative branch to formulate and implement legal, decent and moral solutions to specific legal issues surrounding the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria. Today, at last, the High Court has admitted that for all practical purposes it is a High Court of Subjective Justice,” the organization, dedicated to protecting Israel’s resources and land, stated.
Minister of Settlement Affairs Tzipi Hotovely stated that the “the High Court today declared war on the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel. Applying sovereignty and expanding construction are the best answers to the High Court’s ruling.”
“The court recognized the right of a Palestinian who never proved ownership over those of the citizens of the State of Israel, military veterans and taxpayers, who settled in good faith and were sent by Israeli governments and who are now considered felons,” she said.
“The decision of the Supreme Judges is a definitive proof of our duty to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria,” she added.
She plans to convene an emergency meeting on Wednesday following the ruling “to make sure thousands of homes are not in danger.”
The government has plans to declare sovereignty in parts of Judea and Samaria in the coming months, as stipulated in the coalition agreement between the Likud and Blue and White parties.
However, this issue is also in dispute between the two parties, and the practicability of this historic move is in question.
