High Court says alternative fence route near Alfei Manashe drafted by government causes ‘proportionate harm’ to Palestinian residents in area
Aviram Zino
08.29.07, 12:39 / Israel News
The High Court of Justice on Wednesday rejected two petitions filed by Palestinian villagers and Israeli citizens against the security fence route near the Jewish town of Alfei Menashe.
The court rejected Palestinian claims that the route should be moved away from their homes and lands toward the Green Line, saying the fence will cause “proportionate harm” to their livelihoods.
The court also rejected a petition by the residents of Alfei Menashe who demanded the route encroach on more Palestinian lands, arguing
that its proximity exposed their settlement to the threat of terror attacks from the West Bank.
In 2004, the residents of four Palestinian villages whose homes were to be encircled by the fence and cut off from the rest of the West Bank won a High Court hearing against the fence route.
The court then ordered the army to draft a new route that would not cut off the residents and would give them free access to the West
Bank.
In Wednesday’s hearing, the court approved a new route that would keep two of the four villages outside the fence and would give the residents of the remaining villages free access to the West Bank through a tunnel.
“The new route significantly reduced the harm to the Palestinian residents,” High Court President Dorit Beinish said in her ruling.
Justice Beinish said the new route offered a balanced solution to the security and humanitarian concerns of the state and the Palestinian residents.