The Supreme Court has turned down a petition by radical-left Peace Now to destroy an entire Jewish neighborhood that was partially illegally built.
The decision was handed down Wednesday afternoon, enabling hundreds of residents of the Matityahu East buildings to breathe a sigh of relief - even as they attempt to deal with the unfinished apartments in which they live.
The buildings were built by Heftzibah, which recently went bankrupt and whose Chief Executive Officer was arrested last week in Italy pending extradition to Israel. Many of the residents had to climb in through porches or "buy" a key from Arab workers in order to enter their homes and thus stake their claims before the banks took the property.
The builders were found last year to have violated a series of zoning laws, building some of the structures on land owned by the Arab village of Bil'in. Peace Now, whose raison d'etre is to rid Judea and Samaria of all Jewish presence, quickly jumped in to demand the buildings' removal - but not quickly enough. The Court ruled that the extremist left-wing organization filed the suit too late.
It is clear to all those involved in the case that the Supreme Court was not anxious to order the destruction of many buildings, which would have obligated the prior evacuation of hundreds of hareidi-religious residents. This would likely have involved much force and violence. Similarly, some say that such a ruling would have then required the Court to order the razing of thousands of illegally-built Arab structures around the country.
Jewish Law
It is unknown at this point if the Supreme Court cited in its ruling the clause in Jewish Law known as Takanat HaShavim, or the "ordinance for compassionate justice in the restoration of misappropriated property." The classic manifestation of this law, as Maimonides rules, is that one who stole a beam and used it to build his house is not required to dismantle his house in order to return the beam, but may pay the value of the beam instead. Another relevant issue to this case is whether land can be considered stolen; Jewish Law says yes, while Clause 52 of Israel's Damages Law includes only movables in its definition of theft.
End of Legal Saga
The ruling marks the apparent end of the legal struggle surrounding the neighborhood. Yesterday (Tuesday), the Supreme Court ruled that the security partition fence/wall must be re-routed in order to ease the situation for nearby Arab residents. As a result, construction of the planned second stage of Matityahu East will apparently not be allowed. On the other hand, the residents of the first stage no longer face the threat and uncertainty of being thrown out of their homes.
The town council of Modiin Illit (Kiryat Sefer), to which Matityah East belongs, issued a statement of welcome following the ruling, promising to ease the suffering of the new residents. Mayor Rabbi Yaakov Guterman announced that he and his town council are "preparing to take in the new residents... and are happy to see the end of the misery of those who were heretofore unable to enter their houses."
City workers have begun cleaning up the neighborhood and constructing playgrounds.