High Court to rule today on Palestinian cave dwellers

The High Court of Justice will hand down its ruling today on the matter of the Palestinian cave dwellers in the southern Hebron Hills. The state is asking that an injunction issued by the court in 2001 be lifted, and that "all structures, animal pens, and tents in the area be destroyed based on the argument that they are illegal," according to the attorney representing the Palestinians, Shlomo Laker. "The result will be the removal of the residents from here," Laker said.

Meanwhile, the civil administration uprooted some 100 olive trees yesterday morning that belonged to Palestinian residents of the area.

The 300 Palestinians, who live in an area west of the settlement of Susiya, have been struggling for three years to remain where they are. In June 2001, after the murder of settler Yair Har Sinai, the Israel Defense Forces removed the residents of the area and destroyed the caves and the homes. The Palestinians then petitioned the High Court, which issued the injunction ordering that the status quo be preserved.

"The state is arguing that the [Palestinian] construction is illegal," Laker said. "But not far from there an illegal outpost built on Palestinian land is flourishing."

Human rights activists assisting the Palestinians said that the real intent is to remove them from the area in order to build the separation fence along a route that would include the settlements and annex the southern Hebron Hills to Israel.

"We never understood the state's insistance on removing these poor villagers," said Rabbi Arik Asherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights. "Now we understand that Sharon wants to annex Susiya and other settlements in the area by means of the fence, and therefore he wants to get rid of them."

Asherman and other activists came to the area yesterday to help residents draw water from wells to which the settlers had blocked roads.

The civil administration uprooted the olive trees and took them away, claiming they were planted on state land. "This land is mine since the time of the Jordanians," responded Sabri Harini, owner of the grove.