National religious rabbis call for outpost legalization before destruction
The High Court of Justice ruled in 2016 that 15 of the homes in the outpost were not built on state land, were illegally constructed and must be destroyed.
By JEREMY SHARONUpdated: FEBRUARY 12, 2018 03:11Jerusalem demonstration outside the PMO's office, against the demolition of 15 homes in the Netiv Haavot.(photo credit: CAMPAIGN TO SAVE NETIV HAAVOT.)
Some of the country’s most senior and influential National Religious rabbis have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to legalize 15 homes in the Netiv Ha’avot settlement outpost before its slated destruction in March.Netiv Ha’avot is an extension of the Elazar settlement in Gush Etzion and has been the subject of a long-running legal dispute between the residents and Palestinians in the area who claim the land is theirs.The High Court of Justice ruled in 2016 that 15 of the homes in the outpost were not built on state land, were illegally constructed and must be destroyed. With the destruction date set for March 6, time is rapidly running out for the residents.The rabbis who wrote to the prime minister described the pending destruction as “an injustice” and said that anywhere else in the country the situation would be remedied without destroying the houses.Among the signatories were Rabbis Haim Druckman, Dov Lior, Yaakov Ariel, Shmuel Eliyahu, David Stav, Aryeh Stern, Avigdor Nebenzahl, Zephaniah Drori and Ya’acov Medan.“This destruction is likely to be the beginning of a wave of great destruction of thousands of apartments throughout the Land of Israel,” they wrote. “Before the destruction of these houses, God forbid, we call on the prime minister to fulfill his promise to immediately legalize the lands and houses of Netiv Ha’avot in Elazar, to authorize a construction program of 300 units on state land in the heart of Gush Etzion, and to allow the continued momentum, God willing, of blessed construction in Judea and Samaria.”
