Gov't looks to prevent demolition of family homes of slain IDF majors.
By YAAKOV KATZ, TOVAH LAZAROFFWest Bank outpost 311(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski )
The Defense Ministry is looking to prevent the demolition of the family homes of slain IDF Majors Eliraz Peretz and Roi Klein in the Givat Hayovel outpost.The move comes after Peretz was killed Friday in Gaza, leaving behind a wife and four small children who live in the outpost, which is part of the Eli settlement.The matter was already sensitive because Klein, who was killed in the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, also has a widow and two young children who live there.On Sunday, a senior defense official said that in the coming weeks the IDF Blue Line Group – a branch of the Military Advocate General’s Office responsible for marking Israel’s borders – would conduct a review of the Givat Hayovel outpost.Following the demarcation, the Defense Ministry will submit its response to the High Court of Justice.To date, the outpost, created in 1998, is unauthorized because it was built without all the necessary legal approvals, even though it was given NIS 250,000 from the Ministry of Housing and Construction.Twelve of the 17 homes and 30 caravans on the outpost were built on land which the civil administration contends is partially owned by Palestinians. It issued a demolition order against the homes when construction started, but never acted on the order.In May 2005, Peace Now petitioned the High Court of Justice to ensure that the administration enforce its demolition orders.In the past, the court has rejected attempts by the state toreexamine the outpost’s legal status. The state now has until May 1 topresent the court with a timetable for the demolition of the homes.PeaceNow has said that its petition, filed while the two men were alive, wasan attempt to force the state to uphold the law. It holds that thestate is at fault for allowing the construction to be completed eventhough it was illegal.
The issue of the outpost’s status comesat a sensitive time, with the US and Europe attacking Israel for anysettlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
