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The Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Sunday approved a bill that limits the power of the High Court of Justice to hear petitions filed by Palestinians in the West Bank.
The committee approved the government-sponsored bill for second and third readings. The bill would instead be the administrative applications transferred to the Jerusalem District Court.
In Israel, the same judges sit on the High Court of Justice and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal in the country, while the High Court functions as a court of first instance dealing with issues of justice that do not fall under any other jurisdiction. Primarily, it deals with petitions against the state.
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Currently, the High Court is the trial court for motions of Palestinians in the West Bank, rather than the district courts, as for Israeli citizens living under Israeli sovereignty.
If the bill is pbaded, district courts would be competent to discuss Palestinian petitions in the West Bank regarding prohibitions against residents of West Bank areas, travel permits, planning and construction, and freedom information. Palestinians will still be able to appeal district court decisions to the Supreme Court.
The bill aims to hinder Palestinian petitions against the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Many of the petitions that reach the High Court of Justice concern unauthorized Jewish outposts in the West Bank built on private Palestinian land. The High Court only decides on procedural requests and does not investigate claims of property or evidence, which would be done by the District Court.
Proponents of the bill claim that the bill would reduce the heavy workload of the High Court and would not deprive applicants of an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi), who sponsored the bill, argues that currently, Jewish settlers are discriminated against as petitions concerning their lands are being discussed in the High Court rather than only in district courts. Israel. Shaked said the bill "will end the current discrimination against residents of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]." With this bill, the Knesset sends a message: the right of residents of Judea and Samaria is no less important than that of citizens living in the Green Line. "
In a reference to residents of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Shaked added: "It is a defining moment for the normalization of life in Judea and Samaria and to reduce the workload of the High Court that faces 2,000. Israel complies with international law, but in cases where there is a contradiction, Israeli law must prevail. "
In order to reduce the workload of the High Court eighteen years ago, Israel began to progressively transfer high court authorities to district courts that were also authorized to function as administrative tribunals. . However, until today, this did not apply to West Bank petitions.
MK Merav Michaeli (Zionist Union) said that this bill is part of a process of gradual annexation: "the language of the bill that claims to treat Palestinians equally to Israeli citizens is the opposite of equality, that is violence, to say that we will equalize them does not improve their status but aggravates it. "
In response to the decision to move the bill forward, MK Yousef Jabareen (Joint List), who sits on the Knesset committee that authorized the bill, warned that "just as the draft MK Karin Elharrar (Yesh Atid) added that "there is a sophisticated mechanism at play in the Knesset that tries to annex the territory: if you want to Annexation, go to the end and attach it in full.
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