Maan News Agency | July 30, 2012
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TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — Israel’s High Court on Monday ordered the Israeli state to find a solution for residents of a West Bank village threatened with demolition, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Israel Civil Administration ordered the demolition of Zanuta, south of Hebron, in 2007, because structures in the village were built without permits.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which filed a joint petition to the court with Zanuta residents, says villagers could not have received permits because the Israeli government had no “master plan” for the village.
ACRI says 39 families live in the village.
Judge Hanan Meltzer said it was the role of the military governor to find a solution for residents before demolishing the village, Haaretz reported.
“It is advisable to think in advance where they will go, not afterward,” the judge said, ruling that the state must present a plan for villagers within 30 days.
ACRI lawyer Nira Shalev said the ruling “reminded the State of Israel of a responsibility it has been forgetting during 45 years of occupation: the responsibility to protect the rights and well-being of Palestinian residents of the occupied Territories,” an ACRI statement said.
Israel has ordered the demolition of eight other villages south of Hebron to use the land as a training ground for the Israeli military.
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