Construction in Efrat (file)
Construction in Efrat (file)Flash 90

If history is an indication, it may be a very long time before anything gets built on land in Gush Etzion that was declared state land last week. Another declaration by the government over a decade ago has been winding its way through the court system, and it was only on Sunday that the High Court rejected arguments by Arab groups that the declaration was illegal.

Sunday's case revolved around the legal status of Givat Eitam, a parcel of some 1,700 dunams (170 hectares or 420 acres) of land that is within area belonging to the Efrat local council, but outside the security fence. The state declared the parcel to be state land in August 2004, after it was first set inside the municipal boundaries of the city in 1999, with the local authority carefully checking its legal status. Local Arab farmers sued, claiming that the land belonged to them.

The case has been wending its way through the courts for the past decade, and one of the results of the lawsuit was an order by the High Court to move part of the security fence in Efrat in 2011. As such, 400 dunams of the land were now inside the fence, while 1,300 are still outside – and on Sunday, the court said that the Efrat local council and the state were in the right, and that the land could remain with the status of state land.

However, the saga is not yet finished: The court “suggested” in its decision that the state and the Arab farmers return to arbitration to discuss the fate of some of the land that has been planted by them – illegally, it turns out, since the state was justified in declaring the parcel state land. According to attorneys for the Arab farmers, the fact that some of the land is now being tilled by them obviates the “state land” declaration.

Last week, in the aftermath of the abduction and murder to Gilad Sha’ar, Eyal Yifrah and Naftali Frenkel, the state declared 4,000 dunams (roughly 4,000,000 square meters) of land in Gush Etzion as state land. Those opposed to the decision have about a month to contest it.