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| By: Israel Insider staff and partners |
| Published: January 10, 2006 |
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Israel's Supreme Court on Monday rejected Palestinian and Israeli challenges to a 2 kilometer (1.2 miles) section of the security barrier, telling the Defense Ministry it could go ahead with construction.
The court decision is the latest in a long line of appeals against Israel's Judean and Samarian security barrier that Israel began building in 2003.
Israel says the barrier is intended to keep Palestinian terrorists, responsible for scores of suicide bombings and other deadly attacks in recent years, out of Israeli towns and cities.
But the barrier dips into Judea and Samaria in some areas to keep large settlements on the Israeli side, and the Palestinians say its route is a land grab that expropriates territory they claim for a future states. In 2004, the Supreme Court made a landmark decision backing the Palestinians and ordering a section of barrier rerouted to take into account Palestinians' rights.
The section of barrier that the court addressed Monday is to separate the Palestinian town of Beit Sira from the Israeli town of Maccabim. Initially, the security barrier was to have taken large chunks of Beit Sira land and hindered Palestinian movement.
But the Defense Ministry rerouted the section after a court ruling demanded it. The new route will be built in some parts in Judea and Samaria, but just 75 meters (yards) from the frontier, and in some areas inside of Israel.
The Defense Ministry has also offered the Palestinians about 3.25 acres (1.3 hectares) of alternate land in exchange for an equal amount of territory that will be taken for the purpose of barrier construction, the court ruling said.
Despite further complaints from both the Palestinian towns and the neighboring Israeli community of Maccabim, the court approved the new route, saying it met the requirements of earlier rulings.
The AP contributed to this report. |
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