http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m53145&hd=&size=1&l=e
An Israeli military court decided on Friday that it is "illegal" to evacuate Israeli settlers from Palestinian lands they illegally annexed by them more than three years ago in the northern part of the West Bank.
What this decision means is that the army would not evacuate settlers from outposts even where the army itself ordered the evacuation.
In March 2005, the government of Israel adopted the opinion it had commissioned from Attorney Talia Sasson, former head of the Special Tasks Department in the State Attorney's Office, regarding unauthorized outposts.
But the new ruling of the military court has the effect of ignoring the Sasson report and therefore providing the settlers with the opportunity to claim that they took over privately-owned Palestinian lands in order to plant them for a period of time.
But usually, Israel legalizes most of the illegal outposts once the settlers inhabit them and once they are connected with power and water.
The ruling was made by two out of a three-judge panel. It came after an appeal was filed by a settler from Qidumim settlement who occupied Palestinian lands and planted them with trees. In 2007, the settlers fenced the land and connected it to the water supply.
The villagers filed an appeal against the annexation of their lands, which they had cultivated for generations, and the Civil Administration Office, which is under the control of the Israeli military, ordered the settler to leave the land.
It is worthy of note that the settlers did not claim ownership of the land but said that they has been using it for several years.
Meanwhile, Israeli military judges issued several orders to facilitate the illegal land grab and authorized the usage of small pieces of Palestinian lands for agricultural purposes.
The decisions of different military judges, and the recent decision, violate the Sasson report issued by their own government, and are only made to enable the settlers occupy more Palestinian lands.
This is besides that simple fact which states that all Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, not only the random outposts, are illegal under the international law and constitute a war crime.
1
