Leftist protest in Naalin
Photo: Reuters
Naalin residents: Raze illegal police structure
West Bank village of Naalin petitions High Court to demolish emergency services building in Modiin Illit, built on what they claim is a local resident's property. 'Police stopped chasing thieves and started acting like them,' says petitioner's attorney
Why aren't illegal settlement structures that serve security and rescue authorities destroyed? The Head of the council of the West Bank village of Naalin petitioned the High Court Tuesday, asking that the court demand that the emergency services building in the settlement of Modiin Illit be razed.
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According to the petitioner, the building was constructed illegally on a villager's private land.
The petition, filed against the defense minister and Central Command chief, with help from the Yesh Din organization, demands that they explain why the security forces are failing to implement demolition orders issued against the local police and firefighters' station which serves Modiin Illit.
In the petition, Lawyers Michael Sfard, Shlomi Zecharia, Avishar Lev and Muhammad Shakier described what in their words, is an absurd situation where a site including public facilities that serve law enforcement authorities is being built against the law, without construction permits, contrary to the area's overall plan, while "stealing the private land of the petitioner".
The petition also claimed that the construction of the site began in 1999-2000 and it was completed in spite of its illegality, injunctions to halt construction and demolition orders.
The petitioners claim that in contrast to many other cases of illegal construction carried out by Jews in the West Bank, this case was extremely serious because the buildings constructed were public buildings which were funded and constructed using public funds, while trespassing and with gross violation of Israeli law.
In addition, in their appeal to the high Court the petitioners said that even though the law enforcement authorities had been aware of the illegal status of the buildings, they avoided taking steps to execute their duties and preferred to bury their heads in the sand.
"This petition proves that the police and fire services in the occupied territories fulfill the saying: 'If you can't beat them, join them', the police stopped chasing the thieves and started acting like them," Lev said.
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