The Supreme Court of Israel has ruled that a cluster of houses in a Jewish outpost in front of the occupied West Bank was built on privately owned Palestinian land and therefore should be removed.
By accepting a petition by Palestinian prosecutors, the Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a 2018 District Court ruling that violated judicial grounds by acknowledging the claim of the Mitzpe Kramim colonists on the land, despite it owned by Palestinians.
The district court had declared the colonists the legal owners, and found that Israeli authorities were unaware that the land was privately owned when they originally mapped the area.
That ruling was based on Israeli law which states that transactions with legal errors could be valid if they were carried out in “good faith”.
Mitzpe Kramim was established on a hilltop overlooking the Jordan Valley 20 years ago, and is home to about 40 families, most of whom live on Palestinian-owned plots and say they have received approval from the Israeli authorities to do so. to set up.
But the Supreme Court said that Israeli authorities had not acted in good faith by “turning a blind eye to the many warning signs that have been issued for many years”, which showed that the plots were in fact owned by Palestinians.
Placing most of the responsibility for what it called “the painful outcome for Mitzpe Kramim residents” on the state, the court gave authorities 36 months to find alternative housing for them.
Most countries consider the settlements built on land that Israel conquered during the war in the Middle East in 1967 to be illegal. Israel and the United States dispute this. The Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future state.
About 450,000 Israeli settlers live in the area among about three million Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank was put on hold this month after a deal with the United Arab Emirates normalized its ties.
SOURCE:
Reuters news agency
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