Court rejects demarcation order claim

Tuesday, November 1, 2016, 13:18 The Yehuda and Shomron District Police have been relentlessly pursuing Geulat Tzion residents and repeatedly carrying out detentions at the Shilo Bloc outpost. Honenu welcomed a recent court decision which ruled against claims made by the police. On Monday, October 31, Jerusalem Magistrate Court Judge Maya Av-Ganim Weinstein rejected the police demand to impose house arrest and bail, on a youth detained on suspicion of violating a demarcation order at Geulat Tzion.
The police claimed that in accordance with the demarcation order signed by the GOC of the Central Command, the mere fact that the youth was in the area of the outpost constitutes a violation of the law. However Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, who is representing the youth on behalf of Honenu, claims that the demarcation order prohibits entrance to the area only for the purpose of construction. Additionally the police representative admitted that the demarcated area is not fenced and there are no signs indicating that the area is under an order of any kind.
Judge Av-Ganim Weinstein accepted Ben Gvir’s claims and completely rejected the police demands. She ruled that, “There is a prima facie doubt with regard to the validity of the prohibition binding by power of the declaration.”
Itamar Ben Givr: “This is an important decision which has wide-ranging ramifications. In effect the court ruled that there is a serious problem with removing people from hilltops only in accordance with demarcation orders. The Military Advocate General made a grievous error when it used such orders. The time has come for the Israeli Police to leave the hilltop youth alone and to start working against the genuine terror that is endangering the State of Israel. They should not chase after youths settling the Land of Israel.”