Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that an illegal Israeli settlement outpost in the occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem be demolished by March 2018, sparking condemnation from right-wing Israeli parliament members who blamed the decision on left-wing groups aiming to "exploit the judicial system" for the benefit of a minority.
The court ordered the removal of 17 homes, comprising of some 40 Israeli families, in the Israeli settler outpost of Derech HaAvot established in 2001 near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc after ruling that the outpost was built on privately held Palestinian land, according to a statement released by Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the outpost was established with 300,000 shekels ($79,562) from the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing. Soon after its establishment, the outpost was challenged in the courts by Palestinians from the town al-Khader who claimed they owned the land.
The property disputes have been ongoing for some 16 years, as the case remained lodged in the Israeli courts. Following the most recent petition submitted by Peace Now and Palestinian residents, the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that 17 structures in the outpost -- out of a total of 60 -- were built on private Palestinian land. However, according to the group, Israeli authorities worked to retroactively legalize the structures, sparking fears that the court proceedings would drag on for several more years.
According to Haaretz, the court has given the government until December 31 to evacuate two of the homes, while the remainder should be completely removed by March 6, 2018.
"This verdict exposes, yet again, the governments' attempt to bend the law for the benefit of settlers," Peace Now said in a statement.
"We hope that the verdict will be implemented fully and in a timely manner, and that the State will abstain from assisting the theft of private Palestinian lands in other cases as well."
The more than 232 Israeli settler outposts in the West Bank are considered illegal by the Israeli government. However, Israeli authorities often legalize the outposts retroactively by declaring them official settlements after they have been connected to Israel's water and electricity infrastructure.
While the Israeli court deemed the 17 homes illegal under Israeli law, due to the fact they were built on Palestinian private land instead of on "state land" -- which Israel utilizes to benefit and expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank, according to international law each of the some 196 government-authorized settlements scattered across Palestinian territory are illegal.
After the court ruling, right-wing Israeli members of Israel's parliament, the Knesset, jumped to condemn the decision, with Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett from the ultraright Home Party reportedly blaming the ruling on "extreme left wing bodies," according to The Jerusalem Post, adding that left-wing groups have "exploited the judicial system as a tool to impose the policies of the minority on the majority."
Israeli Justice Minister and leader of the Home Party Ayelet Shaked also added her condemnation of the ruling, saying that she would work with the Defense Ministry to "allocate all necessary resources" to push for the retroactive authorization of the homes, The Times of Israel reported.
Others criticized the Supreme Court, as Environmental Protection Minister Zeev Elkin from the Likud Party accused the court of "crossing a red line," according to The Times of Israel, saying that the decision represented the "disconnect between the High Court, common sense, and the history and heritage of the Jewish people."
Meanwhile, the Israeli Supreme Court has also ordered the demolition of the Amona outpost by the end of the year, which was also built on private Palestinian land on the outskirts of the Ofra settlement in the West Bank district of Ramallah, as Israeli authorities have scrambled to find an alternative location for the settlers.
In May, the Israeli Defense Minister spearheaded plans to build a new settlement in the West Bank to transfer the evacuees to, while more recently in August Israeli authorities have considered leasing private Palestinian land whose owners were residing outside of the West Bank in order to transfer the settlers there.
The recent proposal would resemble Israel's 1950 Absentee Property Law, which permits the Israeli government to transfer so-called "absentee" property belonging to Palestinians to Jewish residents.
The law was established following the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel, that resulted in the mass displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians. Israel's definition of an "absentee" allowed for the Israeli state to take over Palestinian property even when the displaced residents ended up within the borders of the newly established state.
Palestinians have continued to be denied access to their properties for having been absent from their homes, even if just for a few days, as of 1947, when many Palestinians fled from their homes to escape Jewish Zionist forces during the Arab-Israeli war.
