Palestinian outpost
Photo: AFP
Praying at the outpost
Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg
Injured Palestinian
Injured Palestinian
Outpost eviction
Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg
E1 outpost evicted, but tents left standing
Residents of Palestinian Ban al-Shams outpost evicted Sunday, but legal standing of tents still pending court ruling
The residents of the Palestinian
outpost Bab al-Shams in area E1
were evicted Sunday night but their tents were left standing, in line with the Supreme Court's temporary injunction.
Palestinians have petitioned the Supreme Court against the outpost's eviction with partial success: The judge barred the State from destroying the tents set in the area and upheld the plaintiffs' right to return to the outpost if their claim of ownership of the land is proven.
Related stories:
- Palestinians erect outpost in E1 zone
- Security forces evacuate E1 outpost
- Court bars State from evicting Palestinian outpost
Immediately following the outpost's erection, Palestinians reported that Israel ordered them to evacuate the area. But their lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court for an injunction to bar the eviction, which was issued promptly.
In response, the State claimed that a closed military zone order and its right to remove squatters from its land permit it to remove any persons from the area.
The outpost (Photo: AFP)
(Photo: AFP)
(Photo: EPA)
(Photo: EPA)
The temporary injunction pertains to the tents alone, which the Palestinians claim to be a tourist attraction in the village At-Tur's lands.
The State claimed most of the tents were on state-owned lands. The State's representatives are expected to attempt to void the temporary injunction and clarify which tents exactly are on its land.
'Continuity will not be damaged'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has commented on the outpost's eviction on Sunday's cabinet meeting: "I wish to praise the police and the IDF for their quick and determined action to evict the Palestinian gathering in the area between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim."When I was informed of this I immediately ordered its eviction which was indeed performed in the best possible way last night."
Netanyahu added: "We will not let anyone damage the contiguity between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim."
The Minister of Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch also commented: "The police evicted 95 Palestinians and a number of foreign journalists from the hill, without any use of force or riot control measures.
"They ordered them to leave the area and some of them did, the rest the police were forced to evict." He clarified the eviction was performed without casualties: "It was a clean action, starting at 2 am and ending at 4 am."
A Palestinian injured in the eviction
But the Palestinians claimed the eviction was violent, with security forces injuring six persons.
"Despite the peaceful resistance, there was use of violence against the village's residents," they said.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted Fatah spokesman, Ahmed Asaf, who said that "the destruction of the Bab al-Shams outpost by the occupation isn't the end of the campaign to establish the Palestinian right over all Palestinian territories.
"Our people will continue their struggle until freedom and independence are achieved, let the sacrifices be what they may be."
Assaf added: "We challenge all the occupation's actions. We will build villages all through our land and strengthen our presence despite the occupation's savage repression and organized terrorism. These only increase our determination to pursue our legitimate rights."
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