Last update - 00:00 20/07/2007
Eviction of 30 TA families delayed after Housing Ministry intervenes
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent
The eviction of 30 families from the south Tel Aviv neighborhood of Kfar Shalem is to be postponed following the intervention of Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim and the public housing company Amidar. Boim and the company intervened to prevent the eviction of residents living on state land or recognized as protected tenants.
On Wednesday night the struggle seemed lost after the High Court of Justice rejected the residents' petition to delay a demolition order. Their lawyer, Yair Saraf, had argued that most of the land belonged to the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) and the Tel Aviv Municipality.
But Boim's bureau intervened after it appeared that the eviction order was to be applied to ILA lands as well. The ILA then reached an agreement with representatives of the owner, Ruma Efrati, that the residents on ILA land would not be evicted.
Amidar also wrote Saraf that some of the apartments in the privately-owned buildings were occupied by protected tenants who had paid rent for decades to Amidar.
Efrati's attorney, Nava Mori, said the eviction would be only from properties fully-owned by her client. Mori said one house would have to be sliced in two since Efrati owns half. "Everybody now says they paid Amidar," Mori said.
Saraf said he wanted a pledge in writing that evictions would only take place from the privately-owned buildings, but Efrati's representatives did not give it.
Mori said a new order had been issued allowing "flexible eviction" by August 5, whenever the police were ready. David Balasi, the residents' spokesman, said he was glad the threat of eviction had been rescinded for some, but the struggle would continue "until it was promised that nobody would be evicted without compensation."