Ulpana eviction
Ulpana evictionHillel Maeir

The Supreme Court decided Sunday to approve a request for more time in the removal of homes in Beit El. The state had requested four and a half months of time in order to take the homes apart and rebuild them, rather than simply demolishing.

Justices Asher Grunis, Salim Joubran, and Uzi Fogelman ruled in the case. They rejected a request from the Yesh Din organization to force compliance to the timetable using fines.

State attorneys “noted in their request that as soon as the buildings are evacuated the process of dismantling and removing them will begin. The process is expected to be complete no later than November 15, 2012,” the justices wrote.

“We are of course relying on the respondents to fulfill their word and remove the buildings no later than 15.11.2012,” they added.

The five buildings which are to be moved will be sawed into 108 parts and then rebuilt elsewhere in Beit El. The 32 families that lived in the buildings have already been evicted, and are staying in a caravan site.

The plan to take the buildings apart rather than knocking them down has found opponents on both the right and left of the political spectrum. Both Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer and Ichud Leumi MKs Michael Ben-Ari and Aryeh Eldad have accused the government of wasting public money on the project.