The Israeli High Court of Justice ruled on Thursday that it is permissible for the Israeli Army to construct sections of the Annexation Wall around Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, even if the Wall will cuts into agricultural lands privately owned by Palestinian residents.An Israeli online daily reported that High Court justices Dorit Beinisch, Eliezer Rivlin and Edmond Levi, rejected a petition against constructing the Annexation Wall around the settlements. The petition was submitted to the Court two years ago.
The petition was submitted by heads of villages’ local councils in Beit Leed, Ramin, Shufa and Al Lubbad. It was filed in protest against the construction of the Annexation Wall on Palestinian lands in order to surround the settlements of Avnei Hefetz and Einav Hashomron.
The report added that the Wall surrounding Avnei Hefetz settlement was constructed 1.5 kilometers away from residential homes, yet it is constructed on Palestinian private lands and isolates the residents from their orchards.
The Wall in that area was originally planned to surround an illegal settlement outpost that the settlers installed east of the settlement. The Israeli court forbade the construction of the Wall around the illegal outpost, but authorized the Wall around the “recognized settlements”.
Also, The Israeli online daily reported that High Court Justices decided to reject the petition when the army replaced a section of the Wall with an electronic fence. The fence monitors the movement of the Palestinian residents, but the court said that “it does not present any obstacles to them”.
The judges stated in their ruling that they “accept the stance that the Wall and defense systems are necessary to protect the settlers of Avnei Hefetz and Einav settlements’.
The ruling in effect officially recognizes the settlements as part of the permanent borders of Israel, regardless the fact the settlement in the West Bank are constructed on lands Israel illegally seized from Palestinian residents.
