BICOM

Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a demolition order Monday against five apartment buildings built without permission on private Palestinian land in the West Bank, but extended the deadline to 1 July. The previous deadline passed on 1 May while the government appealed for a three-month delay in the eviction.

Previously the government acknowledged that the structures, in the Ulpana neighborhood near the West Bank settlement of Beit El, were illegally built and should be torn down. But in recent months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has tried to save it, and other unauthorised outposts, from demolition.

In their ruling, the justices criticised the government for missing the past deadline and seeking reconsideration of a case that had already been ruled on by the court.

Ulpana is not the only outpost that the court has mandated the state to evacuate. Earlier this year, the court ordered the state to evacuate 50 families from the Migron outpost, which was also granted a two-month delay. Both outposts are a short distance from each other, in the Binyamin region of the West Bank.

For the structures in Ulpana and Migron not to be demolished the Knesset would have to pass a bill authorising the homes, which would make the court’s ruling inapplicable. However, In the past year, Netanyahu has rejected all parliamentary attempts – including some by Likud members – to pass such legislation.