High Court Judge Asher Grunis turned down a request Sunday to issue a temporary order against the government orders to freeze construction in Judea and Samaria. The decision is the second time in three days that the High Court has rejected a motion to issue a temporary order against the freeze.
On Thursday, High Court Judge Uzi Fogelman ruled against a request for a similar temporary order, after a motion was filed by the local government heads in Judea and Samaria and the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel.
Attorney Yossi Fuchs, who represented the Legal Forum in that motion, filed a second request on Friday for a temporary injunction against the freeze, based upon the decision by a subcommittee of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for Judea and Samaria. That committee called upon the government to immediately rescind the freeze orders.
Committee members said that according to the cabinet decision, the precise contents of the freeze orders had to be brought before the public - yet this had not been done. They also said that a mechanism for compensation needs to be in place before the freeze is implemented.
Netanyahu: It's Only Ten Months
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened Sunday's cabinet session with the subject of the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria. “We have to go though this period together,” he said. “I say this to settlers, to ministers and MKs. Internal cohesion is more important than everything. I request the cooperation of the ministers in implementing the plan."
Netanyahu also said, "The freeze is only for ten months. Even if [PA Chairman] comes to us in ten months and says 'Peace Now,' we will immediately resume building. Ten days have already passed..."