The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected petitions against the route of the West Bank separation fence in the area of Efrat, saying the route of the fence was determined for security reasons.

After rejecting the petition, the court lifted an injunction prohibiting construction of the fence from continuing in the area, allowing the fence to be erected on the originally planned route.

Residents of the West Bank village of Umm Salamuna, whose lands were expropriated by the state in order to allow for the route of the fence to include Efrat on the Israeli side, had petitioned the High Court against the move.

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The petitioners demanded the court reject the route, on the basis that the fence would be built in part on 272 dunam of grapevines, fig and almond trees.

Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch accepted the Defense Ministry's position, whereby there is no acceptable alternative way to defend the settlement, located in Gush Etzion.

"The security demands are at the foundation of the construction of the fence," wrote Beinisch in her ruling. "It is designed to prevent the infiltration of terrorists from Judea and Samaria into Israel. The decision to build it was made against the backdrop of a reality of harsh terrorism that plagued Israel from September 2000, and especially Gush Etzion."

"The route is based on security considerations regarding the need to protect the welfare and security of Efrat residents," she wrote. "The military was authorized to expropriate the petitioner's land for the purpose of constructing a security fence."

"The question of the legality of the Efrat residents' presence in the area is not under discussion today," she wrote. "This question is not relevant to the military's responsibility ? to defend the lives, security, and honor of every one of the Israeli settlers. Their security is on the military's soldiers, and it is authorized to build a security fence to that end."