Regavim Combat Illegal Construction in Judea & Samaria
Regavim movement 20.09.2021
As part of Regavim's efforts to combat illegal construction in Judea and Samaria, over the last two years, we’ve filed a number of administrative petitions in the Jerusalem District Court (which serves as the Court for Administrative Affairs) against the Ministry of Defense and the Civil Administration.
Their petitions sought the implementation of the “Order for Removal of New Structures,” military legislation created by the defense establishment in 2018 to cut through the legal and bureaucratic red tape that characterizes “standard enforcement procedures”.
Again and again, the state’s lawyers argued for dismissal of Regavim’s petitions on jurisdictional grounds: The New Structures Order, they claimed, does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court, and should be heard in the High Court of Justice.
But when they petitioned the High Court, the State argued that the petitions should be dismissed out of hand, because an alternative legal remedy is available — namely, “standard enforcement procedures” arising from the Planning and Construction Code. Even though these alternative legal remedies have not been enforced, the state argued, the proper forum for hearing these cases is… the District Court.
But there’s a broader question here that goes beyond the individual cases. The government is shirking its responsibility to enforce the law! This is a deliberate attempt to create a legal ‘Catch 22’ that will empty the law of all meaning, while at the same time limiting the public’s ability to scrutinize and evaluate the state’s continued inaction before a court of law — whatever court that may be.
However, in a High Court hearing last week, the Justices were extremely critical of the State Attorney. The State was required to submit, within 60 days, substantive arguments regarding its failure to enact the “Removal of New Structures Order,” as well as an update on the issue of jurisdiction
Regavim is hopeful that the Court hearing will go down in history as the point that the government was forced to own up to its failure to protect Israel’s interests in Judea and Samaria, and when the Israeli version of “Catch 22” began to unravel.
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