- Title: JERUSALEM: ISRAELI COURT REJECTS SETTLERS ANTI-GAZA PULLOUT PETITIONS.
- Date: 9th June 2005
- Summary: JERUSALEM (JUNE 9, 2005) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MV/CU: LAWYERS AND MEDIA IN COURTROOM; LAWYERS IN COURT WAITING FOR SESSION TO BE OPENED (3 SHOTS) MCU: RIGHT-WING PARLIAMENT MEMBER AND SETTLER LEADER BENNY EILON SEATED IN COURT MV/CU/GV: MORE OF PEOPLE IN COURT; JUDGES ENTERING; COURT SESSION UNDERWAY (4 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAWYER YORAM SHEFTE
- Embargoed: 24th June 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JERUSALEM
- City:
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA7QKMR2Q07EDP167MLQJHHAZO
- Story Text: Israeli court rejects settlers anti-Gaza pullout petitions.
Israel's highest court on Thursday (June 9) rejected a bid by Jewish settlers to overturn legislation underpinning Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza, clearing the last major legal hurdle to a pullout in August.
An 11-judge High Court panel left largely intact, with only minor technical changes, a parliamentary-approved package compensation package for 9,000 settlers slated for evacuation, court documents showed.
Settlers had filed 12 petitions calling for the "disengagement" law, which entails payments ranging from 100,000 and 400,000 U.S. dollars per family, to be invalidated or significantly rewritten.
It was the latest in a series of attempts by settlers and their far-right supporters to derail Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to remove all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 enclaves in the West Bank.
The court's rejection of the petitions means that Sharon, who has already overcome the last legislative hurdles to implementing the pullout, should be able to push ahead without fear of major legal obstacles.
Settler leader Benny Eilon said they would continue with their campaign against the withdrawal.
"We have to go ahead with our objections according to the democracy, we have many fields, we tried in the field of the Knesset (but parliament), we didn't succeed, we are trying here, and we will continue. There is a way for civil disobedience, there is a way of demonstrations, everything that is included under the umbrella of the democratic system- we have to do our best, including prayers to the lord of the universe that he will do what's necessary,"Eilon said.
The closely watched High Court ruling followed the release of an opinion poll on Wednesday (June 8) night showing Israeli public support for the withdrawal falling to a low point with less than half of the population now in favour.
The survey commissioned by Israel's Channel 2 television found that 48 percent of Israelis back the withdrawal, while 33 percent are opposed and the remaining 19 percent undecided.
The trend was consistent with other recent polls, which showed support for the Gaza plan, once hovering at about two-thirds, declining to closer to 50 percent amid stepped-up protests by far-right opponents of Sharon's plan.
Many settlers see the West Bank and Gaza Strip as Israel's by biblical birthright and say any withdrawal from occupied land would be a "reward for Palestinian terrorism".
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