Israel's top court forbids relocation of Jewish settlers to Palestinian lands

Israel's Supreme Court Monday froze a deal to relocate a hardline Jewish outpost in the West Bank after the Palestinian owners of the land asked the court to cancel the deal.

The government and the settlers of Amona, an unauthorized outpost, reached a deal to remove some 40 families from Amona, which was built on private Palestinian land, to nearby plots.

On Monday, the Palestinian landowners of the new plots petitioned to the Court, which later issued an interim injunction order, forbidding the government to use the plots.

The relocation deal, reached in December, was aimed to achieve a peaceful evacuation of the outpost. The settlers first agreed to the relocation, but in the recent days, they said the government has not lived up to its promises.

Both the petition and the settlers' discontent raised again fears of forced evacuation and clashes between the settlers and the police.

Neta Patrick, executive director of the Israeli human rights group of Yesh Din, which petitioned the court on behalf of the Palestinian landowners, said that ever since the notion of using Palestinian property to solve the Amona crisis, "we have claimed that one injustice cannot be corrected with another."

"We are determined to support the landowners in their struggle for their right to property by using all available legal means," she added in a statement.

Amona, located east of the city of Ramallah, is the largest among the so-called "illegal outposts," communities built by far-right Israelis without permits from the government.

There are about 100 unauthorized outposts and 120 settlements that Israel considered as legal.

Both outposts and settlements are illegal under international law as they were built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War. Endit