Evyatar outpost appeals eviction
Residents of the West Bank Evyatar outpost have appealed an eviction and demarcation order issued against their fledgling community earlier this month.
The demarcation order opened the door to an evacuation as early as last Monday, but no evacuation took place and no date has been set for the eviction of some 50 families who have moved there since the community’s creation in May.
Their attorneys submitted the appeal to GOC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Tamir Yadai late Thursday night.
They argued that the order first issued while former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was still in office was invalid because it lacked Netanyahu’s approval.
Typically such orders and evictions are only issued for homes on private Palestinian property, the attorneys argued. The land on which Evyatar is constructed is considered to be survey land.
Prior to leaving office Netanyahu said that the outpost could be and should be legalized.
The attorneys in their appeal said that in the past the High Court of Justice has opposed the use of a demarcation order on survey land where there is an intent to regulate the construction.
They also argued that the use of a demarcation order was unfairly leveled at Jewish construction noting that it had it had been used 15 times against Jewish settler outposts but only twice against Palestinian ones.
The attorneys stated there are some 800 Palestinians outposts in Area C of the West Bank, compared to 74 Jewish ones.
The community was created near Tapuah junction in the Samaria region of the West Bank with the support of the Nahala movement and the Samaria Regional Council.
A failed attempt was made to build a community there in 2013 after Evyatar Borovsky was killed in a terror attack at the Tapuah junction. That effort was renewed in May following the shooting death of Yehuda Guetta, 19, by a Palestinian terrorist at the junction.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz has spoken of his determination to evacuate the outpost but at present has taken no action against it.