Children play in Yovel neighborhood.
Children play in Yovel neighborhood.Israel news photo: Flash 90

 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has asked the High Court for a one-month extension to provide an updated answer to a "Peace Now" motion against Jewish homes in a Samaria neighborhood. The homes that were slated for demolition based on the motion include those of two fallen war heroes, Maj. Roi Klein and Maj. Eliraz Peretz, in the Yovel neighborhood of Eli, in Samaria.  
 
The Defense Ministry's request says that Barak, as well as the IDF and the police, are checking possible alternatives to the demolition of the homes and that the matter will be brought before Attorney General Yehudah Weinstein.
 
Barak told the court that the Defense Ministry and the IDF have been conducting a detailed survey of the land upon which the homes stand, to determine what part of it, if any, was not legally appropriated.   
 
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the matter Thursday morning in a Industrialists' Federation convention in Tel Aviv. He said he would not let the homes of widows Shlomit Peretz and Sarah Klein be torn down. "This is a matter of common sense, and I will not allow the demolition of the homes of these heroes who sacrificed their lives for the security of Israel."