December 21st, 2010

Press release – for immediate release

Palestinians and rights group Yesh Din petitioned the HCJ:

Settlement police station, municipal buildings erected illegally
on private Palestinian land
The emergency services compound of the Modi'in Illit settlement – which houses
several public offices, funded by taxpayers – was erected in blatant violation of the
law. Despite demolition orders issued against the compound – the police is in no
hurry to enforce the law on itself.

The head of the village council of Ni'ilin in the West Bank, as well as one of the
village’s residents and land owner, petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice (HCJ)
today (Tuesday) with the assistance of human rights group Yesh Din – Volunteers for
Human Rights. The petitioners demand that the demolition orders issued against the
emergency services compound in the settlement of Modi'in Illit be carried out – as
the compound was built on private Palestinian land.

The petition, filed by attorneys Michael Sfard, Shlomy Zachary, Avisar Lev and
Mohammad Shuqir of the Yesh Din legal team, asks the court to order the Israeli
minister of defense, the IDF commander in the West Bank and the Civil
Administration chief to explain why they are not enforcing the demolition orders
issued against the compound. Among the buildings in question – a police station and
a fire station, both serving the municipality of Modi'in Illit.

In the petition filed today the petitioners describe the absurd situation – in which a
compound housing government buildings that serve the law enforcement
authorities is built in blatant disregard for the law, without any building permits or
permits from the planning authorities, and by taking over the petitioner's privately
owned land.

The ground work for the erection of the compound started in the years 1999-2000. It
was completed despite being illegal and irrespective of the stop-work orders and
demolition orders issued. The petitioners add that unlike many other cases of illegal
construction by Jews in the West Bank, this case is twice as grave as the buildings
constructed illegally are public offices, several of them owned by municipal
authorities, which were funded by revenue from taxpayers, in gross disregard for
the law.
Although the authorities were aware of the illegal status of these structures, they
refrained from performing their duties and preferred to ignore them, note the
petitioners.

"This petition proves that the police and fire department in the occupied Palestinian
territories are acting according the well-know phrase – 'if you can’t beat them – join
them'", says attorney Avisar Lev. "The police has ceased to chase after the thieves,
and has started acting like them".

For further information please contact Yesh Din spokeswoman

Dana Zimmerman, at +972-54-245-7682