Nawaj'ah
Nawaj'ahRegavim

The Supreme Court on Thursday authorized the immediate demolition of three structures in the outpost of Nawaj'ah after it was determined that they were built after an interim injunction prohibiting continued construction was issued.

The legal process involving the site has been underway since 2011, when the Regavim watchdog group, which monitors illegal construction, first petitioned to demolish the illegal outpost built between the Israeli village of Sussiya and the National Park of Ancient Sussiya.

Arabs in the area who filed a counter-petition in 2014 continued to build illegally and even demanded they be given an additional 1,500 acres of land and recognition as a neighborhood of the Palestinian Authority town of Yatta.

The Civil Administration Supreme Planning Council rejected the plan, noting that Yatta is several miles from the outpost. The State proposed arranging the outpost on state lands adjacent to Yatta.

In addition to the decision to demolish the three structures, the Supreme Court issued a partial interim injunction preventing demolition of five additional structures until a final ruling is made regarding the entire outpost's evacuation.

The State emphasized in a previous statement that it will not legalize the outpost at its present location, but will allow outpost residents to submit a plan at their expense to the planning institutions.

"The Supreme Court's decision to allow immediate demolition of some of the buildings was necessary, because throughout the legal process the residents of the Nawaj'ah outpost served as an unprecedented example of contempt for the Supreme Court when they continued to build illegally," says Yishai Hamu, Operations Director of the Regavim movement in Judea and Samaria. "We expect the State to continue to announce intention to evacuate the entire outpost according to what Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has said in the past, and not submit to unacceptable external pressure."