Court grants state 4 more months to transfer Givat Ulpana houses
Contractors have until mid-November to disassemble buildings and move them to government property in Beit El
Ilan Ben Zion is an AFP reporter and a former news editor at The Times of Israel.
The High Court of Justice ruled in favor of a state petition to forestall the court-ordered demolition of illegally constructed buildings in the Beit El neighborhood of Givat Ulpana, on Sunday.
The state had petitioned the High Court of Justice on Tuesday to reschedule the date by which the Givat Ulpana buildings must be removed from July 1 to November 15. The state explained in its petition that completion of the safe disassembly of the buildings for relocation elsewhere in Beit El would require an additional four and a half months.
Justices Asher Grunis, Uzi Fogelman, and Salim Jubran ruled that because the outpost had been completely evacuated by July 1, “we see no impediment to granting the respondents an addtional extension as requested.”
The court warily added, however, that “needless to say, we rely on the fact that the respondents will keep their word and will remove the permanent structures by November 15, 2012.”
The buildings in Givat Ulpana, which the court ruled must be torn down because they are sitting on private Palestinian land, were slated for demolition Sunday at the latest.
The state had cited the “sensitivity of the issue” and the need to preserve public order and “the rule of law” as the government’s rationale behind transplanting the buildings rather than demolishing them outright. The government had feared a settler backlash should the buildings be demolished.
