'Flouting court orders.' East Jerusalem
Photo: AFP
Cohen (L) with Mayor Barkat
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Jerusalem legal counsel: Request to delay Beit Yonatan eviction illegal
Attorney Yossi Havilio tells Knesset committee court order calling for evacuation of illegal Jewish structure in east Jerusalem 'should have been implemented a while ago'. Rightist MKs: Elements within municipality favoring city's Arabs
During a Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting on Sunday the Jerusalem Municipality's legal adviser revealed what he said was an illegal request made by the City to Israel Police to delay the implementation of a court order calling for the evacuation of a Jewish structure located in east Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood.
The seven-story structure, known as Beit Yonatan, was built in the Palestinian neighborhood Silwan by the nationalist association Ateret Cohanim in 2004 without the necessary permits. Jews belonging to Ateret Cohanim currently reside there.
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Attorney Yossi Havilio told the committee, "This (evacuation) should have been carried out a while ago." The attorney said he had received a letter from Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen indicating that the municipality had in fact approached him on the matter "in a way that is not legal."
Havilio called on police to implement the order regardless of the City's request.
About two weeks ago Attorney General Menachem Mazuz instructed Commissioner Cohen to take immediate action to evacuate Beit Yonatan.
"This is a grave ongoing case of flouting court orders and cannot be allowed to continue," Mazuz wrote Cohen in a letter that was also sent to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.
Israeli construction in east Jerusalem has been the focus of a long-running dispute with the US and the European Union, which consider it an obstacle to peace. The Palestinian Authority demands a halt to Israeli construction in the West Bank and in the eastern part of Jerusalem, which it considers the future capital of an independent Palestinian state.
In a scathing letter sent to Mayor Barkat two weeks ago, State Prosecutor Moshe Lador said, "There is no legal justification to delay the implementation of the court order. Any additional delay will constitute a severe violation of the rule of law."
Barkat, who attended the meeting at the Knesset, said he had acted in accordance with directives relayed by Israel Police according to which the evacuation of Beit Yonatan could fuel tensions in east Jerusalem.
A number of right-wing Knesset members who took part in the meeting accused Attorney Havilio and other elements within the Jerusalem Municipality of being biased against east Jerusalem's Jewish residents vis-à-vis the enforcement of construction regulations.
