In an interim decision released Tuesday, the seven-justice panel unanimously called upon the government to turn to the United States, the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations, to see if they can help in guaranteeing that the synagogues will not be vandalized or desecrated by the Arabs of Gaza.
The Cabinet had previously decided, twice, to destroy the synagogues - even though 154 other public buildings in Gush Katif are to be left standing. However, the Supreme Court issued a restraining order against the destruction last week, following a petition filed by Rabbi Yishai Bar-Chen of the northern Gaza community of Nissanit.
The Chief Rabbis and the Chief Rabbinate Council strongly supported the petition, stating that for Israel to raze synagogues in the Land of Israel is forbidden from a Halakhic [Jewish legal] standpoint, and is even worse than abandoning the structures to possible Arab desecration.
The rabbis also argued that Israeli destruction of the places of worship would encourage other countries to destroy synagogues that interfere with zoning plans and the like. Authorities in Ukraine have already announced plans to raze abandoned synagogues there.
Attorney Gilad Corinaldi, representing Rabbi Bar-Chen, said today that the decision is very important and courageous, insofar as it represents unusual judicial intervention in government policy. "It is not very often that a seven-justice panel would make such a decision, and unanimously at that," he said.
Corinaldi continued to express cautious optimism that the synagogues would in fact be left standing. "Every day that they are not destroyed is a victory for us," he said, "in light of the government's desire to hand over the entire area by next week... It is possible, of course, that the government will claim tomorrow that they have turned to the international bodies and was turned down - but in such a case, we will demand to see exact documentation of what was done, and I believe the Court will support us. We will have to wait and see."
Wednesday afternoon, Prime Minister Sharon announced, "We honored the Supreme Court's decision, and turned again to the PA. The PA rejected our request, and said that the synagogues should be dismantled."
Blog Commentator Michael Freund noted that during a hearing this week, Chief Justice Aharon Barak asked the state attorney why no agreement was reached with the Palestinian Authority regarding the need to protect the synagogues, to which the state representative replied:
The Cabinet had previously decided, twice, to destroy the synagogues - even though 154 other public buildings in Gush Katif are to be left standing. However, the Supreme Court issued a restraining order against the destruction last week, following a petition filed by Rabbi Yishai Bar-Chen of the northern Gaza community of Nissanit.
The Chief Rabbis and the Chief Rabbinate Council strongly supported the petition, stating that for Israel to raze synagogues in the Land of Israel is forbidden from a Halakhic [Jewish legal] standpoint, and is even worse than abandoning the structures to possible Arab desecration.
The rabbis also argued that Israeli destruction of the places of worship would encourage other countries to destroy synagogues that interfere with zoning plans and the like. Authorities in Ukraine have already announced plans to raze abandoned synagogues there.
Attorney Gilad Corinaldi, representing Rabbi Bar-Chen, said today that the decision is very important and courageous, insofar as it represents unusual judicial intervention in government policy. "It is not very often that a seven-justice panel would make such a decision, and unanimously at that," he said.
Corinaldi continued to express cautious optimism that the synagogues would in fact be left standing. "Every day that they are not destroyed is a victory for us," he said, "in light of the government's desire to hand over the entire area by next week... It is possible, of course, that the government will claim tomorrow that they have turned to the international bodies and was turned down - but in such a case, we will demand to see exact documentation of what was done, and I believe the Court will support us. We will have to wait and see."
Wednesday afternoon, Prime Minister Sharon announced, "We honored the Supreme Court's decision, and turned again to the PA. The PA rejected our request, and said that the synagogues should be dismantled."
Blog Commentator Michael Freund noted that during a hearing this week, Chief Justice Aharon Barak asked the state attorney why no agreement was reached with the Palestinian Authority regarding the need to protect the synagogues, to which the state representative replied:
"Even if the Palestinian Authority would take it on itself (to guard the synagogues), it couldn’t live up to such a commitment."Freund opined, "Now that’s an interesting argument, if only because it points to the utter absurdity of the Government’s position. For while Sharon is willing to admit that the Palestinians are incapable of protecting synagogues in Gaza – he was only too happy to turn over the entire Strip to Palestinian control in the hopes that they will control rocket attacks against Israel."