Jurists say disengagement plan infringes on human rights

A group of lawyers, jurists and legal researchers have slammed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, saying that it infringes on a number of human rights which Israel's Supreme Court has upheld on numerous occasions in the last 12 years.

The initiative is the first of its kind by jurists and academics seeking to thwart the disengagement plan and its legislative passage through the Knesset, in addition to the payment of compensation to settlers who will be evacuated under the plan.

The group claims that the "disengagement plan is in breach of the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom, the property rights of thousands of people as well as other basic rights, such as freedom of movement and freedom to demonstrate."

The group, named the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, also claims that the transfer of a large section of the population from one part of the country to another against its will is an apparent contradiction to both local and international laws.

	Demonstrators forming a 'human chain' from Gaza to Jerusalem in July as part of a protest against the disengagement plan. (BauBau)