On Sunday morning, Israel’s Civil Administration destroyed a Palestinian Authority school erected outside the law in Herodian National Park, a historic Jewish town and fortification about 7.5 miles south of Jerusalem.
Shlomo Ne’eman, head of the Yesha Council, said, “We thank the Civil Administration for demonstrating their enforcement this morning near Herodian.” “Building crumbling schools is P.A. State-owned property land grabs that endanger pupils.
“We have come to the ludicrous situation where the court requires the state to do the obvious through petitions from civil society organizations like Regavim. This is unquestionably a new development in the ongoing battle for our state’s territory. A lot more work still needs to be done, he continued.
Regavim, a land-related Israeli NGO, has been fighting the Civil Administration in court for more than five years to compel it to demolish the illegally constructed school.
The Civil Administration is responsible for carrying out administrative duties in Judea and Samaria.
Before Regavim got involved, the Civil Administration placed a stop work order on the structure in 2017.
“For all illegal structures, the Civil Administration issues a demolition or stop work order. It makes no difference who built it.
The legislation is the same for everyone—whether Jews or Arabs—or at least it should be, according to Tamar Sikurel, a Regavim spokesman, who spoke to JNS.
She claimed the structure wasn’t just erected randomly in Judea and Samaria’s Area C, entirely under Israeli control, but rather in a Jewish-significant park with historical and archaeological value. She referred to the artificial hill on which the ruins of Herod the Great palace, constructed between 23 and 15 B.C.E. in the Judean desert, and remarked, “It’s right at the foot of the mountain.”
Sikurel said the Civil Administration’s failure to demolish the building was the issue’s root. “Despite the ban, the Palestinians continued constructing and turning the structure into a school. Regavim then entered the scene and enquired, “What’s happening?”
Regavim filed a petition with the Supreme Court, acting as the High Court of Justice, in 2018, protesting the Civil Administration’s approval of the school’s unauthorized construction.
But the judge granted the P.A. the chance to apply for the structure’s retroactive recognition. It was evident that authorization couldn’t be obtained there. Therefore, Sikurel said it was only a time-killing strategy.
Regavim submitted a second plea to the Jerusalem District Court a year ago. The structure was declared too dangerous to occupy two months ago, and the court ordered it be sealed immediately and destroyed within 60 days.
“The 60-day deadline expired last Thursday. When we discovered it had been destroyed this morning, we were considering our next course of action,” Sikurel added.
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