Ramallah: The Israeli Higher Court of Justice has instructed the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) and the Palestinian owner of Al Rajabi building to pay a bail of 100,000 Shekels (Dh100,000) before the end of the current month to halt the takeover of the building by Israeli colonists and to demonstrate the credibility and seriousness of the Palestinian claims.
According to Mohammad Hamdan, the (HRC) lawyer, the strange bail is intended to depress the Palestinians and make them feel the judicial procedures are useless.
“The freeze will continue till the Higher Court of Justice finishes all the appeal procedures submitted by the HRC and the Palestinian owner,” he told Gulf News. “The Palestinian side will even lose the bail money if it loses the case. Nonetheless, we have no choice but to go ahead with the appeal.”
The HRC lawyer said that the bail money will be arranged in coordination with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
The four storey Al Rajabi building occupies land east of Al Ebrahimi Mosque in the old town of Hebron. It has strategic colonial value for the Israeli colonists who will use the structure as a connection point between the key colony of Karyat Araba’a and other Israeli colonies and outposts.
“If the building is taken over by the colonists, it will be catastrophic on the residents of the entire area,” said Hamdan.
The Israeli colonists had forged documents to prove their ownership of the building and raided the building and took it over. The Palestinian owner and the HRC lodged a lawsuit with the Israeli Higher Court of Justice which ruled that the raid was illegal and put the building under the supervision of the Israeli army until the court decided ownership.
On September 13, 2012, the colonists approached the Israeli Central Court which decided that even the fake documents could not dismiss the ownership claims of the Israeli colonists. The judge of the Central Court ordered the building to be handed over to the colonists within 30 days. “The court’s verdict was purely a political decision as the judge had not even reviewed thousands of documents the HRC and the owner, Fayez Al Rajabi, submitted,” said Hamdan.
The Palestinians lodged an urgent request for a freeze on the decision, but “were shocked with yet another decision from Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister on October 11 approving the court’s verdict and ordering the building to be handed to the Israeli colonists,” he said. Hamdan termed Barak’s decision “incorrect” for procedural reasons and claimed the minister acted to gain support in the Israeli elections.
“We submitted an urgent request demanding a cancellation of the defence minister’s decision, but our request was denied by the Israeli Central Court,” he said. At the same time the Palestinians lodged a fresh request to the Israeli Higher Court of Justice requesting the freeze order remain until the case passes through all judicial procedures. It is this court which has imposed the bail condition.
“The bail order is an obstacle, but we will overcome it,” he said, arguing that the appeal will soon be submitted to the Israeli Higher Court of Justice.
“We will exert all the possible effort to prevent the colonists from taking over this strategic building and prove Palestinian ownership,” he said.
