Defense Minister Ehud Barak appears to be responding to mounting public pressure regarding the High Court of Justice order, demanding the demolition of homes in the Givat HaYovel neighborhood of Yishuv Eli in Shomron. The homes slated for demolition include families Klein and Peretz, the widows and children of two IDF officers who fell in the line of duty.

As such, Barak has turned to Supreme Court President Justice Dorit Beinish requesting an extension of six months, explaining the pain and suffering of the families and the sensitive nature of the situation demand special considerations, seeking to push off the hearing for six month.

It must be repeatedly stressed that in this case, as in other cases; the so-called outpost is a legitimate neighborhood inside the community of 750 families, made up of permanent homes, not sheds; with paved streets and infrastructure. There is also a mikve, shul, kindergarten and other structures, a far cry from the picture of an ‘outpost’ as the area is portrayed in the left-wing media.

More absurd is the reality that the homes were built with government approval, the roads paved with government funding, and the residents are paying bank mortgages on their homes after receiving the paperwork from various government agencies.

Nevertheless, the court now views the homes as ‘illegal’ and is siding with Peace Now, who is calling to demolish them, insisting they were built on “Palestinian land”. If a delay is not granted, 12 homes in the neighborhood of Givat HaYovel are slated for demolition in two weeks.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)