Last update - 00:00 11/12/2006
Former chief justice to rule on IDF, gov't actions in territories
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak will issue several key rulings this week on government and Israel Defense Forces actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Barak retired as Supreme Court president nearly three months ago, but his office is still living the last, tempestuous days of the Barak presidency. Friday will mark the final day of the third month since his retirement and the absolute last day on which rulings he has written will be released.
This week, then, a flood of judgments written by Barak is expected, among them some quite important ones that relate to controversial security issues.
These include rulings on a petition to abolish Israel's assassination policy in the territories; on the legality of the so-called "intifada law," which bans claims of damages resulting from Israel Defense Forces activity in the territories; on the reduction of the IDF's safety zone for shelling the Gaza Strip; and on the legality of the Matityahu East neighborhood built on land that used to be part of the West Bank village of Bil'in.
The petition against the IDF's assassination policy was submitted in January 2002 by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. Discussion of the matter was suspended in February 2005, with the Israeli-Palestinian announcement of a cease-fire and a halt to assassinations. However, the issue was back on the table in November, when Israel returned to carrying out assassinations.
In the last hearing on the case, a year ago, Justices Mishael Cheshin and Dorit Beinisch (now the Supreme Court president) sat on the panel with Barak. Since then, Cheshin has retired and been replaced by Justice Eliezer Rivlin. About a month ago, the Yesh Gvul organization filed a petition against the justices themselves, saying they have avoided reaching a decision for nearly five years.
The situation related to the "intifada law" is still more complicated. Nine human rights groups filed the petition in September 2005, and each of the nine judges on the panel that heard the case could cause another deferral of the ruling. The petitioners say the law, which almost completely frees the state from responsibility for damage caused to Palestinians in "non-combat" operations in the territories since September 2000, is "racist and unethical."
A ruling on the case is expected to set down principles regarding the application of constitutional human rights to Palestinians in the territories.
The petition against reducing the safety zone for IDF artillery fire into Gaza from 300 meters to 100 meters, was filed in April, after the army changed its procedures. The six human-rights groups that submitted the petition argue that reducing the minimal space between the point of shelling and a civilian population constitutes a patently illegal command, such that those who carry it out risk committing war crimes.
The Supreme Court doesn't generally set time limits on writing judgments, although one of the exceptions to that rule is when a justice retires and the court needs to get through as many open cases as possible. Barak has been working hard recently to finish writing the rulings that have been waiting a long time. The cases that have been left to the end are ones that elucidate important principles and which have been deferred, in some cases, for several years. The plan is to finish off as many cases as possible.
However, in some instances the ruling might not be publicized even after Barak makes his decision. If another justice on the panel decides to write his or her own opinion on the case but does not do so by Friday, Barak's judgment will be replaced by that of the other justice, making Barak unusually dependent on the goodwill of other Supreme Court justices. For that reason, Barak's office is pressing the other justices to complete their rulings by Friday as well, but it's not clear whether all the justices will manage to do so.
The last few weeks have seen quite a few key rulings in which Barak had a hand: the decision to allow same-sex couples married abroad to register as married in Israel, the decision that the rabbinical courts are authorized to divorce couples married in Cyprus, the decision to confirm the legality of the West Bank separation fence in Bir Nabala, and dozens of other judgments in the criminal, civil and commercial fields.