Two Palestinian Authority Arabs have filed a petition in the High Court demanding that several homes in the Jewish city of Beit El be destroyed. The two say the homes, located on the outskirts of the town located in the Binyamin region, were built on privately-owned Arab land.
The homes in question are located in the Artis neighborhood of Beit El. Five are permanent buildings, and five others are temporary structures that were set up in 2003. In addition to requesting the destruction of the homes, the Arab plaintiffs say the court must order residents of Beit El to stop all activity in the area.
The plaintiffs are being assisted by the Israeli group Yesh Din. The same group has demanded that the state demolish homes in the Jewish community of Ofra in Binyamin, and earlier this month it helped a group of PA Arabs file a suit against the community of Migron. The suit demanded NIS 1.5 million in exchange for pain and loss allegedly caused by the community's existence.
Yesh Din claims that the homes in Beit El, where more than 1,000 families live, were built on Arab land that was confiscated by the IDF. The army banned Arabs from the area for security reasons, which is why Arabs did not attempt to use the land before the homes were built, the group explained.
More than 25 Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are at risk of demolition because they were built with permits from only some of the relevant government ministries. Several others have been challenged in court by PA Arabs, who often file suit after building is completed in a certain area and claim ownership of the land.