High Court rules against petition to evacuate illegal Homesh outpost in West Bank

The High Court of Justice rules against a petition to evacuate the illegal West Bank outpost of Homesh.

The court finds that the relocation of Homesh from private Palestinian land to public land is sufficient to resolve the demands of private Palestinian landowners in the area that they regain access to their land.

The Yesh Din organization which represented the Palestinian landowners denounces the decision which they say de facto authorizes the establishment of a new Homesh settlement and testifies to “the apartheid rule” in the West Bank.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lauds the decision, however, and thanks Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for his help in assisting with the relocation of the Homesh outpost.

Palestinian landowners have for years sought the removal of the outpost, consisting primarily of a yeshiva, from their private land, which the state agreed to evacuate in 2022.

In May this year, Gallant permitted settler activists in conjunction with the Samaria Regional Council to build a new yeshiva in the middle of the night on a different plot of land, defined by the state as public land, close by to the original yeshiva, albeit without construction permits and in contravention of the designated land use of the area.