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Beinish slams state for disregarding court order
Supreme Court president criticizes government for failing to dismantle security barrier south of Mount Hebron in West Bank, which court deemed illegal in December. Beinish gives state 14 days to implement ruling but notes, 'This kind of conduct is inexcusable'
Aviram Zino
The state must dismantle a security barrier located south of Mount Hebron in the West Bank within no more than two weeks, Supreme Court Justice Dorit Beinish ruled Tuesday.
Standing 41 km (25 miles) long and 82 cm (2.7 feet) high, the security barrier cuts through territory belonging to Palestinian villages. Following appeals to the Supreme Court by Palestinian community leaders and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the court decided last December that the fence must be taken down within six months.
The state, however, failed to implement the court's ruling and the allotted time period ran out in June.
Former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak wrote in his verdict at the time that "the security barrier causes great damage and limits the movement of 500 residents that live or own farmland south of it."
In her ruling Tuesday Judge Beinish criticized the state for ignoring the December verdict. "The state was ordered to remove the obstacle within six months from the day of the verdict. The state waited throughout the whole allotted time period and failed to remove the obstacle.
"The state chose not to obey the court order, and came to us at the end of the period wanting the verdict changed. This kind of conduct is inexcusable," Beinish wrote. She also ordered the state to pay the petitioners' legal fees, which totaled NIS 30,000.
Beinish's ruling comes just a few days after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insisted that the court cannot dictate state policy regarding installing protective shields against rockets in Sderot.
Court officials viewed Olmert's comments as yet another attempt by the government to undermine the judicial system.
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