The Supreme Court accepted the request of the Binyamin Regional Council to be added as a respondent to the petition against the Regulation Law.
The petition, submitted by radical leftist organizations and Palestinian Arabs, asserts that the Regulation Law is illegal according to international law.
The Council, the largest in Israel, submitted its request due to the far-reaching consequences on the Council entailed in an acceptance or rejection of the petition.
The Council brought, as an example of the impact of the Regulation Law on the Binyamin Council, a facility meant to supply drinking water to all the communities of Gush Talmonim as well as to nearby Arab villages, to which the application of the Regulation Law is expected to enable its activation to the benefit of all residents of the area.
The request also notes that the Regulation Law has an impact on the residents of over 1,000 private homes in communities located in the Council for whom the uncertain legal situation makes it difficult to plan for their individual and communal future.
Some of the petitioners, represented by the radical leftist “Adalah” organization, opposed the addition of the Binyamin Council to the list of respondents, asserting that the Council “has no status in the petition according to which it could make an additional contribution.”
Nevertheless, Judge Neal Hendel accepted the Council’s request to join, and instructed it to respond to the petition by July 10, 2017.