Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the High Court Wednesday that his ministry had completed the necessary paperwork for demolition of nine illegal permanent structures at Rechelim in Shomron (Samaria). However, he added, the demolitions will be carried out “in accordance with the regular order of priority, taking into account the fact that the construction was not on privately owned Palestinian land.”
A plan delineated by Barak last year treats demolition of structures built on land that is not privately owned by Arabs as a low priority. The plan, drawn up in October 2008, defines as high priority demolitions cases in which a court order is involved, cases in which construction is in its initial stages and cases in which Jews carried out illegal construction on privately owned Arab land.
The Defense Minister made the statement in his reply to a motion filed by Attorney Michael Sefarad on behalf of the residents of the Arab village A-Sawiya, which demanded that the nine structures be torn down. Barak replied that the authorities carry out their duties in Judea and Samaria according to priorities that the High Court has no reason to interfere with.
He confirmed that the structures were first spotted in April 2008 and that work stoppage and demolition orders were issued. However, construction work on the site continued despite the orders.
In March, the head of Central Command signed an order closing off the area and forbidding Israelis from entering it. Less than a week later, the High Court also issued a temporary order against continued construction on the site. Despite all of this, three of the structures were recently connected to infrastructures and populated.