Summary
A high mountain ridge west and northwest of Jerusalem, topographically controlling its immediate and general surroundings and towering over Route 443 north of it, around which more than ten kilometers of the separation fence route in the Beit Sourik case were drawn — and annulled as disproportionate (Beit Sourik Village Council v. Government of Israel, lines 737-797).
Details
- Orders Tav/104/03, Tav/103/03 and the western part of Tav/84/03 apply to this segment, passing southwest of Beit Likia, southwest of Beit A’anan and west of Chirbet Abu A-Lahm; the military commander’s objective was to keep the mountain area under Israeli control, giving his forces topographic control of the fence area and decreasing others’ capability to attack travelers on Route 443 (paragraph 51).
- The Council for Peace and Security affidavit held that effective light-weapon fire from Jebel Muktam on Route 443 or any Israeli town is not possible, that a route three kilometers south adjacent to the Green Line would sit on controlling, defensible ground, and that not every controlling hill is necessary for the fence’s defense (paragraph 54). The commander replied that control of Jebel Muktam is of decisive military importance — not just another controlling hill but a mountain overlooking the entire area (paragraph 55).
- The Court did not intervene in that military dispute, but held the route disproportionate in the narrow sense: an alternate based on military control of Jebel Muktam without “pulling” the separation fence to the mountain was presented, and the security gap between the routes is minute beside the injury of separating more than 13,000 farmers from their lands and trees (paragraphs 56-62).
Related pages
Beit Sourik Village Council v. Government of Israel, Beit Sourik case, Beit Sourik, Separation wall, Council for Peace and Security