Former chief military prosecutor’s home was built on private Palestinian land — report

The home of the former chief military prosecutor in the West Bank, Morris Hisch, was built on private Palestinian land, the Haaretz daily reports.

Construction of the home in the settlement of Efrat began in 1994 without permits, based off of claims from an Israeli contractor that the land had been legally purchased from its original Palestinian owners, Haaretz says.

The Civil Administration had filed demolition orders against the home once construction began, according to the report.

After a long legal battle, the Supreme Court officially rejected in 2009 the claims of the contractor that the purchase had been legal.

In 2012 — around the same time he began his stint as chief military prosecutor in the West Bank — Hirsch purchased the property in Efrat.

Two years later, the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration redrew its “blue line” marking land belonging to the settlement, leaving Hisch’s home outside the barrier and further acknowledged claims that it belonged to Palestinians.

Responding to the report, Hirsch calls the findings ”disgusting and irrelevant.”

Dror Etkess from the Kerem Navot settlement watchdog that uncovered the status of the former military prosecutor’s home tells Haaretz: “It is ironic that the person who for years was responsible for the rotten prosecution system that Israel runs in the West Bank lives in a house that was built only due to the rottenness of the law enforcement system.”