Israel High Court urged to mandate demolition of outpost set up by US-sanctioned settler

A petition submitted to the High Court of Justice on Wednesday calls for the Israel Defence Forces and the Civil Administration to dismantle an illegal West Bank settlement outpost established by extremist settler Neriya Ben Pazi, who was recently sanctioned by the United States.

Filed by the Torat Tzedek organisation along with five Palestinian residents of the West Bank, the petition included numerous allegations of harassment and persecution against local Palestinians by Ben Pazi and other Israeli settlers living in the outpost. It also highlighted that state authorities are obligated to safeguard these residents by prioritising the demolition of the outpost.

The petition noted the establishment of HaMahoch Farm roughly one year ago in an area east of Ramallah by Ben Pazi and other extremist settler activists. It highlighted that these settlers have been consistently and aggressively targeting Palestinian residents who use private Palestinian lands in the area.

“These settlers have constantly and daily attacked and harassed Palestinian residents who use private Palestinian lands in the area, harming them, their animals and their property, destroying trees and vegetation, and causing them to abandon the area after decades in which these territories were cultivated and used by Palestinians,” the petition alleges.

“Even after the departure, the settlers continue to harass and loot the property of the Palestinians, to invade the private lands and prevent the return of the Palestinians to the area.”

The petition also highlights that the Civil Administration has established specific criteria for prioritising the demolition of illegal structures including “structures that represent a danger to the security of a region or to public peace, or to public order, or [when] demolition orders [have been issued] for buildings serving as a warehouse for actions creating such a danger.”

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Director of Torat Tzedek, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, who has had multiple encounters with Ben Pazi, accused him of orchestrating the expulsion of Palestinians from large areas of the West Bank in recent years.

According to the Times of Israel, Ascherman, a campaigner for Palestinian civil rights, said: “He will talk about being neighbours with the Palestinians, but it’s all cover for his ideological plans to do everything possible to clean a whole swath of land between the Alon Road and the Jordan Valley of Palestinian presence.”

“Because of him and the series of outposts he has set up since 2019, there are thousands of dunams of land where Bedouin who’ve lived there for 40 years are no longer there. What is new about this petition is that it challenges the standard defence by the state that it carries out the demolition of illegal structures according to a predetermined timetable,” he added.

In response, the High Court instructed the Israeli army, the Civil Administration, and Ben Pazi to submit their initial responses to the request for an interim order regarding the outpost by 3 April.

Ben Pazi is one of three radical settler activists recently sanctioned by the US in the occupied West Bank after the US imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers last month for engaging in violence against Palestinians in the occupied territory.

“There is no justification for extremist violence against civilians or forcing families from their homes, whatever their national origin, ethnicity, race, or religion,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.