After the state of Israel ordered a group of Israeli settlers to evacuate a Palestinian-owned building in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron (Al-Khalil), the Israeli Supreme Court has ordered to delay the evacuation based on an appeal submitted by the settlers.
According to Israeli media reports, the settlers’ appeal is based on the same erroneous ownership claims to the property — owned by the Abu Rajab family and referred to as Beit HaMachpela by the settlers — that have already been debunked in previous legal proceedings.
The 15 settler families forcibly took over parts of the three-story Abu Rajab house in July. Last Sunday on Aug. 27, the Israeli state prosecutor gave them a week to leave peacefully in response to the petitions submitted by the Palestinian owners to the Israeli Supreme Court.
Court gives Hebron squatters reprieve as evacuation looms – Petition to stay eviction from Machpela House comes… https://t.co/9Bg1YmRmcb
— Zyite.com (@zyiteblog) September 3, 2017
A week later on September 3, the settlers submitted their own petition to the court, which then issued a temporary injunction to prevent the evacuation until the deadline for the state’s response to that appeal, due on September 10, according to Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now.
Peace Now said that the military order “formalizes the system of apartheid in the city and could potentially lead to new projects and budget transfers to the Hebron settlers.”
Some 800 notoriously aggressive Israeli settlers now live under the protection of the Israeli military in the Old City, surrounded by more than 30,000 Palestinians.
(Maan, PC, Social Media)
