Last update - 00:00 20/09/2007
Court rescinds demolition order for road to unrecognized village
By Haaretz Service
Haifa Magistrate's Court on Thursday issued an injunction against the demolition of a makeshift road to an unrecognized Israeli Arab village in the Galilee.
Judge Daniel Fish ruled that the unauthorized road to West Zbidat - one of many Israeli Arab villages built on land whose ownership is claimed by the state - would remain intact, saying its removal would be an injustice.
Some 55 West Zbidat residents had petitioned the court to rescind a Haifa District Planning and Construction Committee demolition order for the road, the only point of access for the village that has existed since the time of Turkish rule in the area.
The demolition order was issued after the road was recently repaved to repair damage from heavy rains last winter. School bus drivers had refused to use the road until it was repaired.
Fish rejected the residents claim that they did not need a building permit, stating that although the road was not new but had already existed, the renovations did need to receive the necessary authorizations.
However, Fish decided to prevent the road's demolition, saying that despite the fact that there is no disagreement that the village is illegal, authorities have avoided evacuating it for many years.
The judge ruled that should the authorities want to evacuate the village, they must do so directly, and not by cutting the village off from basic services and supplies.
Fish said the demolition order "was to be a means for burden the residents' lives, in a way that it more difficult to do daily tasks like receiving basic municipal services such as garbage removal, driving students to school, and entering and leaving the town."
"This is not the manner in which the authorities should enforce planning laws," he said.
The village of West Zbidat has existed for dozens of years, from before the creation of the State of Israel. Its residents live in squalid conditions - without being connected to the electricity or telephone services.
In recent years, some of its residents have been hooked up to the water systems, and its residents share education with nearby Bosmat-Tivon.
The state has issued demolition orders for some of the village houses and in recent years has been negotiating over the possible evacuation of others.