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Israeli Supreme Court Freezes Barrier Through Battir

Linda Gradstein/The Media Line

Israel’s Supreme Court has frozen plans to build the separation barrier that Israel has been building in and around the West Bank, through the village of Battir, a 4000-year Palestinian village next to Jerusalem.

The residents of Battir, along with several Israeli environmental NGO’s, appealed to the court three years ago not to allow the barrier to go through Battir, a Palestinian village of 6500 next to Jerusalem that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of its agricultural terraces that have been used for thousands of years. The petitioners argued that building the barrier in Battir would destroy the terraces, which continue to be used today.

“Battir has a 4000 year old system of irrigating its fields that are built on ancient terraces,” Mira Edelstein, the foreign media spokesman for EcoPeace Middle East told The Media Line. “This system dates back thousands of year and is still used today. We are very pleased that with all of the conquest in the area, Battir has managed to survive with the help of the Supreme Court.”

EcoPeace joined the Palestinian residents, along with their Jewish neighbors, in the Supreme Court appeal.

“We are very happy that finally after more than eight years of trying to defend our land, we have this decision,” Battir mayor Akram Bader told The Media Line. “We think that democracy won, and we are willing to live in peace with everyone.”

The Supreme Court’s decision came after Israel’s Minister of Defense said the state did not intend to complete the barrier in Battir, because it was not a priority and the area is not a security threat. This was a change from his previous position that building the barrier through Battir was a security necessity for Israel.

The court did not close off the future possibility that the Israeli government will ask to build the barrier through Battir. However, the ruling said that if that happens, the state would have to put in a new request, and the environmental groups would then be able to issue new objections, meaning that any new attempt to route the barrier through Battir could drag on for several years.

Israel’s Supreme Court has long been seen by many Israelis as a liberal bastion. Any Israeli or Palestinian can appeal directly to the Supreme Court. In 2007, the court ordered the barrier rerouted in the area of the West Bank village of Bil’in, to minimize the number of Palestinian farmers who would be cut off from their lands. That decision was finally implemented in 2010.

“Quite often the court puts itself forward as an expert for security issues over the IDF (Israeli army) and makes decision that in a regular country would not stand,” Nitsana Darshan – Leitner, the director of Shurat Hadin, the Israel Law Center, told The Media Line. “When it comes to the security fence, the court prefers to listen to the cry of the Palestinian residents, rather than the security needs of the military forces.”

Shurat Hadin, which says its goals are to “bankrupt terror [1]defend Israel from war crimes [2], and combat lawfare and the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement [3]” frequently argues cases before the Israeli Supreme Court. For example, she is helping the parents of an Israeli soldier who was killed at 2013 at Joseph’s tomb in the West Bank town of Nablus. Palestinian police opened fire at the Israeli soldiers.

She says that the court is often forced to decide between human rights and security.

“The court often favors human rights even though it comes with a security cost,” she said. “We know of many Supreme Court decisions that put Israel in danger and ultimately brought either attacks or threats to Israeli security.”

For example, she said, in 2010, the court ordered part of Route 443, an alternative road between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, part of which runs through the West Bank, to be reopened to Palestinians. Since then, there have been stones and Molotov cocktails thrown at Israeli cars on the road. Those in favor of letting Palestinians drive on the road say stones were also thrown when it was closed off to Palestinian traffic.

For most of the farmers in Battir, the Supreme Court decision does not have international implications. For them, it just means that they can continue to farm their land as their ancestors have done for thousands of years.