Israel's Supreme Court dismisses petition to remove West Bank settlement

By Henriette Chacar

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Supreme Court has ruled against a petition to remove a previously abandoned settlement outpost in the occupied West Bank that Israeli parliament cleared for rebuilding earlier this year.

The court said on Wednesday that the recent relocation of the outpost, which mainly consists of a yeshiva or religious school, from private Palestinian land to public land was enough to allow Palestinians access to their land.

Palestinians say that despite its relocation, the settlement and the military forces securing it block them from freely reaching their land. They have reported increased settler violence in recent months that has put their lives and property at risk.

Most countries deem Jewish settlements built on land Israel occupied in a 1967 Middle East war as illegal. Their expansion has for decades been among the most contentious issues between Israel, the international community, and the Palestinians, who say settlements cut communities from each other and undermine hopes of a viable independent state.

The United States, Israel's key ally, has repeatedly expressed objection to Israeli settlement expansion.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition, which includes far-right ministers who oppose Palestinian statehood, has accelerated settlement growth, citing biblical and historical ties to the area.

In March, Israel's parliament amended a 2005 law to allow Jewish Israelis to return to four evacuated settlements, including Homesh in the northern West Bank, which overlooks the Palestinian village of Burqa.

Palestinian residents and lawyers with the Israeli rights group Yesh Din said the move emboldened Homesh settlers, who had returned to the area already in 2009 without authorization.

The outpost was recently moved to what Israel has marked as public land. It now appears on a map like a settlement island surrounded by private Palestinian territory.

"This settlement is a nightmare for the residents of Burqa," said Nasser Hijja, a village council member. The government's goal, he continued, is to take over all Palestinian areas.

"It does not want any Palestinian presence on this land," said Hijja.

Two former heads of the Israeli military's Central Command, which oversees West Bank operations, filed testimonies with the court opposing the re-settlement of Homesh. They warned it would expose Israel to security challenges and violate the rights of Palestinians to property and to free movement.

But the Supreme Court denied the petition, citing the change to the 2005 law. "There has been a fundamental change of circumstances in the factual basis underlying the petition," wrote Justice Yael Vilner.

Yesh Din Director Ziv Stahl said the court was "helping Israel cement the occupation".

"The court is giving the government exactly what it wants, which is to finalise the annexation of the West Bank," she said.

Since January, Israel has advanced 12,855 settler housing units across the West Bank, said the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now - the highest number the group has recorded since it started tracking such activity in 2012.

Settler leader Yossi Dagan said Wednesday's ruling was "an unparalleled moral step towards the correction of history".

(Reporting by Henriette Chacar; Editing by Giles Elgood)