STATEMENT – Please find below the statement that was published by the Society of St. Yves regarding the dismissal of the latest petition in the Cremisan case.
The Israeli High Court dismissed the latest petitions in the Cremisan case, submitted by the Salesian Sisters Convent, represented by the Society of St. Yves – Catholic Center for Human Rights, and the Beit Jala Municipality and landowners, represented by advocate Ghayyath Nasser.
The Court held in its decision that although it approves the construction of the annexation wall and admits that it is based on “security needs”, the landowners have the right to object to any route of the wall that does not maintain their right to access their lands freely. Moreover, the Salesian Sisters were granted the right to object to the final route of the annexation wall in the future upon its presentation. In case the army plans to impose facts on the ground upon the construction of the annexation wall, the Court, in this decision, has granted both parties the right to object to the presented route or any future one, regardless of the current construction of the wall that is going on in Beir Onah – Beit Jala.
The petition that was submitted by St. Yves in July 2015 demanded the Court to order the Israeli Ministry of Defense to reveal the whole planned route of the annexation wall before it proceeds with building it, to avoid an unjust situation where facts are imposed on ground. St. Yves also requested the Court in the same petition to issue an order preventing the Ministry of Defense from building the annexation wall without presenting the whole planned route at first, and allowing all parties to object, especially the landowners who will incur severe damages due to the construction of the annexation wall in their lands.
St. Yves’ petition came after the submission of a petition by the Beit Jala Municipality and landowners, in which they had requested the Court to annul the route of the annexation wall as presented by the Israel Ministry of Defense and order the army to present an alternative route.
Since August 2015, the Israeli army has already started building the annexation wall in the area, specifically in the privately owned lands of Beir Onah- Beit Jala, uprooting olive trees and bulldozing agricultural lands as it completes sections of the wall.
