The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission and the Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights submitted a joint petition to the Israeli Supreme Court to demand the return of Jabal Sbeih lands to their owners, and to revoke a deal between the Israeli government and settlers of ‘Avitar’ illegal settlement. The illegal outpost is built on mountainous lands, considered part of Palestinian towns of Beita, Qabalan, and Yatma south of Nablus. According to the deal between the Israeli government and settlers, the settlers are to temporarily vacate the outpost while the buildings remain in place, pending consideration of the ownership of land. If the government concludes that the lands are “state land,” it will return the settlers to the outpost and set up a religious school there. The petition noted that the deal reached by the parties violated international humanitarian law and human rights law, in particular the right to private property of the protected population and the principle of respect for the laws in force in the occupied Palestinian territory. The petitioners stressed that the deal also affects the principles of Israeli administrative law, especially the principle of the rule of law, while it rewards settlers for violating the law and for encroaching on Palestinian lands to which they have no connection or right, by giving them an opportunity to legalize it retroactively. For further details, click here