• Published 17:46 16.12.09
  • Latest update 15:26 29.12.09

High Court blasts government for not compensating settlers for freeze

Chief justice: Body must be set up to to compensate for damages incurred during construction moratorium.

By Tomer Zarchin Tags: Israel settlements Israel news settlement building

The High Court criticized the government on Wednesday for not having set up a formal mechanism to compensate settlers for damages incurred by a freeze on new construction in their West Bank communities.

"I don't know how much he who gave the order [also] gave his opinion on all the variations of possible injuries that could be a result of it," said Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch during a hearing on four petitions filled against the moratorium.

She also asked the State Prosecutor's Office to relay to the relevant authorities her comments on the freeze, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced two weeks ago as a bid to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.

Along with Supreme Court Justice Ayala Procaccia, Beinisch said there was a need for the government to create a body that would immediately deal with the damage caused.

Nonetheless, the justices said they understood the security and diplomatic goals of the move, which they said was a legitimate measure.

Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch.

Photo by: (Maya Levin)
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  • 26. 0 0
    Thaw the Freeze
    • Esther
    • 17.12.09
    • 05:41

    THAW the ILLEGAL LAND FREEZE ! Abba Father gave the land to the Israeli people...Joshua 14-19. The Israeli gov't should know this fact. To kick Israel off their land is an abomination... then to have law suits for damages is even more ridiculous.. The devil has Israeli's pitted against Israeli's... satan is laughing...he has what he wanted the nation divided & in chaos... It is written, a city, nation divided falls... Don't fall for his strategies O Israel... turn to Yeshua then, Abba will send you HIS Holy Sprit of Truth...to weed out the lies & deceptions of satan...follow Abba's Holy Spirit.. not falliable, sinful man... REPENT & Turn back to Abba-God- Yeshua HaMessiah ..you NEED HIM...especially now with Iran breathing down your necks... I pray you will come to YeSHUA's holy, pure light... the ONLY light of this dark, evil world ... our Blessed Messiah- Beloved Son of Abba Father... With much love O Israel..stand strong you are not alone... In Christ,

  • 25. 0 0
    RUSS you sure are.Land grab is when borders are established
    • PETER SM
    • 17.12.09
    • 05:19

    crying land grab after refusing to recognise borders for decades sure is missing something.

  • 24. 0 0
    #5 agree 100 %
    • sam i am
    • 17.12.09
    • 04:08

    but its only the jews who are desrving of reporations. oh to be the chosen

  • 23. 0 0
    #5 Vladek
    • Jon
    • 17.12.09
    • 02:29

    reimburse Jews for land stolen by Arabs. And I don't just mean the hundreds of thousands forcibly thrown out of the country (unlike Palestinians of whom many left on their own valition so the arab armies could march the Jews into the sea) but also the lands stolen by Palestinians throughout the 19th century and early 20th century during pogroms - real 'massacres' that occured on a frequent basis

  • 22. 0 0
    #4 Ester
    • Jon
    • 17.12.09
    • 02:25

    yeah, compensation like those of Gush Katif recieved: homelessness for years to come, a loss of income, looked down upon by the holier-than-thou who live on the right side of the 'green-line', and so on. Why don't the Palestinians move, they can have the UN/UNWRA continue to support them for the rest of their lives, and I'm sure other countries will chip in, like the US, Israel. Forget about their arab/muslim brothers though, they only support with weapons in order to attack Israel, they have no true love of the Palestinians (see Lebanon camps, Jordanian camps, Saudi Arabia who won't even deal with them...)

  • 21. 0 0
    #3 Russ
    • Jon
    • 17.12.09
    • 02:21

    they wouldn't be there at all if the Palestinians accepted their own state in 1948. Instead, the Palestinians denied the shared rights of Jews to the land and lost that which they could have had. Selfish bastards if you ask me.

  • 20. 0 0
    It makes perfect Israeli sense
    • WHG
    • 17.12.09
    • 02:20

    The settlers build on land belonging to ohers; the Israeli government, under pressure from the US, calls a freeze to illegal building on the land of others; the illegal builders should be compensated for the inconvenience caused them in being forced to pause in their theft of the land of others. The others must not be consulted because Israel regards them as "others". Whose logic is this? What kind of a country is this?

  • 19. 0 0
    #1 Russ
    • Jonn
    • 17.12.09
    • 02:19

    who exactly are they grabbing land from, the Jordanians or the extinct Ottomans? Or maybe its the British, as they were the last to control 'Palestine'? If its the Palestinians you refer to, there's a known percentage of the land that was privately owned, so Israel must be grabbing the rest from an entity which does not exist yet, namely Palestine.

  • 18. 0 0
    sam - High Court should enforce ALL treaties Israel has signed
    • binny
    • 16.12.09
    • 23:46

    sam said "Govt. violates "right of residence within the borders of each state"Art.13"Universal Declaration of Human Rights" signed by Israel" No problem, just point out where Israel's permanent and internationally recognized borders are, and then we can proceed with the prosecutions. The courts can make 2 lines, and try Israeli leaders for their violations. In one line, we can prosecute every single Gov't member who allowed an illegal transfer of any settler onto land not on the Israel side of the border. In the other line, we can prosecute every single Gov't member who failed to compensate settlers on the Israeli side of the border. Just draw that border line, and the courts can get to work. It seems that you are willfully trying to blind yourself to the "within the borders of each state" part of Art. 13.

  • 17. 0 0
    appropriate compensation is required
    • binny
    • 16.12.09
    • 23:37

    The settlers absolutely should be compensated. Free moving trucks and movers should be sent immediately to the settlements to move the Settlers out of the occupied territories. These free moves should be quickly followed with free land title work, nullifying any claim on any occupied land that was granted due to an illegal transfer of Israeli's into these occupied lands. Finally, free Caterpillar services should be provided to these settlers. This is the only compensation they should be given. Any other compensation should be considered on a charity basis only, not as a state obligation.

  • 16. 0 0
    Russ @ 1
    • yuval
    • 16.12.09
    • 23:32

    No, Russel you did NOT miss anything. War criminal settlers steal land, and demand compensation because they can not enjoy all their ill-gotten gains immediatly!!

  • 15. 0 0
    Settler vs Arab rights in occupied Palestine
    • David R
    • 16.12.09
    • 23:05

    I was searching for your story from yesterday of a UN report that Arabs applying for a permit to build in a large part of their own country have virtually no chance of obtaining permission from occupying authorities. The story seems an interesting, wrily amusing, counterpoint to the present story of the "injustice" done to the settlers in halting, albeit temporarily, their ongoing encroachments. Has the story been removed already from your site? Or did I dream it?

  • 14. 0 0
    let the USA pay
    • sam
    • 16.12.09
    • 23:04

    yes, i bet poor old uncle sam will be looking at forking the bill.

  • 13. 0 0
    oh Sam
    • Mike
    • 16.12.09
    • 22:43

    Sam if the Israeli government faces civil suits from settlers for having to freeze their building in land on the wrong side of the 67 line, then Israel will be open to lawsuits from every single Palestinian who has had their land taken or had their home leveled. You are gonna open up pandora's box. Seriously now, poor settlers, they have to just stop building for a while, not evacuate, not watch their homes destroyed, just wait a little. POOR SETTLERS.

  • 12. 0 0
    hard to understand
    • bronxtie10
    • 16.12.09
    • 22:41

    I've never heard of a government that had to compensate private owners for a building moratorium or for failure to issue a building permit that should have been issued. If the government had to do that, wouldn't the Israeli government owe more than the State of Israel is worth for all of the building projects that the State has screwed up for failure to issue permits or building moratoriums? Isn't the Israeli bureaucracy famous for just such screw ups?

  • 11. 0 0
    Keep your blood money
    • Baruch Gold
    • 16.12.09
    • 22:28

    Keep your money, keep your freeze, this is immoral and a step towards ethnically cleansing Jews from our homes like what occurred in Gaza. Do you see what happened to Gaza once Jews were cleansed? The Hamas moved in and took over Gaza from the PLO and the PLO cowards fled with Mohammad Dahlan running to Gaza with his tail between his legs and not one shot fired. Next thing rockets fell on our families in Sderot in South, afterward Hizbollah emboldened by the withdrawal attacked the North and now we are threatened from North, South and you want us to be threatened from the East as well? This is insane and we shall defend our homes and our families from the PLO and Hamas if Israel will not.

  • 10. 0 0
    Settlers
    • alan
    • 16.12.09
    • 22:22

    Settlers = Colonists. No compensation. Sorry. Consult your lawyer.Lol

  • 9. 0 0
    We are still building, will build and will always build
    • Chaim Ben Kahan
    • 16.12.09
    • 22:22

    We are building, we will build and we will always build in our homeland Eretz Yisroel. look around where we live and you will see we have our shovels in hand and concrete out. You shall see we will build even more now than before the "freeze' as you have motivated us!

  • 8. 0 0
    How about the settlers compensating the government?
    • Mark Lincoln
    • 16.12.09
    • 21:59

    Why not have the Settlers pay Israel for the extra cost of providing security for those who wish to live outside Israel?

  • 7. 0 0
    They Believe
    • Russ
    • 16.12.09
    • 21:04

    Thank you ! I thought I was really missing something. I guess coming from a country where most people obey the law, I find this so odd. Squat on someone else's land and build a house. Do it here and find youself in jail.

  • 6. 0 0
    Ridiculous
    • Pal
    • 16.12.09
    • 20:50

    Compensating settlers for land they stole? Only in Israel.

  • 5. 0 0
    Reimburse Palestinians for Confiscated Land
    • Vladek
    • 16.12.09
    • 19:53

    Settlers are to be reimbursed for their inconvenience, but Palestinians do not get reimbursed for their land and homes. Justice for Jews, and injustice for Palestinians. No wonder Israel is being critisized from throughout the world. It is about human rights and not anti-semitism.

  • 4. 0 0
    The settlers can't have it both ways...
    • Esther
    • 16.12.09
    • 19:07

    ... they insist on staying put, yet agitate about "compensation"... ... if they only decided to take-the-plunge and genuinely move, they'd earn "compensation" from multiple sources... Israel, USA, EU etc

  • 3. 0 0
    Russ they are zio jews so what did you expect?
    • they believe
    • 16.12.09
    • 19:04

    they own everytthing cause god gave it to them

  • 2. 0 0
    Members of Govt face civil suits for illegal freeze decee
    • sam
    • 16.12.09
    • 18:39

    Govt. violates "right of residence within the borders of each state"Art.13"Universal Declaration of Human Rights" signed by Israel

  • 1. 0 0
    Land Grab
    • Russ
    • 16.12.09
    • 18:33

    Am I really missing something here? The settlers grab land that isn't theirs, start to build an illegal house, get told to stop, and then want compensation???