JERUSALEM – The Supreme Court plans on Thursday to make its ruling on 12 consolidated appeals, mainly by settlers and Knesset members, against Israel’s upcoming Gaza pullout.
The petitions could delay the withdrawal if accepted by the judges.
One of the appeals, submitted by Gaza’s regional council of settlers, calls on the court to declare the pullout illegal on the basis that it undermines human rights. Other motions demand an increase in government compensation for settlers slated to be evacuated, a sum that currently stands at about USD 300,000.
Supreme Court judges have been discussing the appeals during recent weeks and some have suggested they visit the 21 Gaza settlements set to be dismantled this August, but no such trip had taken place.
“I’m very sorry the judges did not visit,” said Yitzhak Meron, who represents some of the plaintiffs. “I think visiting the place whose destiny you’re about to determine is essential. The Supreme Court has a great opportunity to save Israel from a problematic move and from a social trauma.”
Pullout 'injustice'
One judge, Zvi Tal, said the pullout plan was an “injustice and even a harsher crime given certain circumstances.”
Speaking to law students at Hebrew University, he said he found no Israeli law that justified the withdrawal.
“Why cause suffering to so many people?” he said. “The government has free and unlimited judgment.”
Should the court rule in favor of the plaintiffs, the government would be forces to halt its planned August withdrawal and amend its procedure according to the recommendations of the judges.
