Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat turned to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to examine the implications of the Supreme Court ruling on Amona and efforts to address lands in Jerusalem.

In his letter, Mayor Barkat refers the attorney general to work being conducted in recent weeks in City Hall involving the city’s legal advisor as the city is aware there are cases pertaining to land in the city that are in the same legal status as Amona, particularly homes that were built illegally in the eastern capital on private Jewish land. The mayor points out they estimate there are thousands of such units in which Arabs are living today and the city should be compelled to raze them in line with the court’s ruling on Amona.

“My position is a solution can be found for Amona since the community has been in existence for twenty years, enjoying government support, and the expulsion of the forty families that settled there would cause much hardship and pain” a Jerusalem spokesman stated quoting the mayor.

“If the court’s ruling is implemented, there can only be one law for Arabs and Jews alike and therefore I asked you to formulate a legal opinion on the matter”.

As per the High Court’s ruling, Amona must be removed by December 25, 2016.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)