Palestinians appeal to evacuate buildings in West Bank outpost

A group of Palestinians petitioned to the Israel Supreme Court on Tuesday, calling for the evacuation and demolition of nine building structures in a controversial West Bank outpost, local media reported. Last year, the Israel Supreme Court ordered to evacuate five of the Ulpana neighborhood's structures following a Palestinian petition. The neighborhood, erected on the outskirts of the Beit El settlement near Ramallah in the early 2000s, was built on private Palestinian land. "Under the protection of the state of Israel, with its funding and authorization, the settlers started building on private lands, " Attorney Hussan Yunes, representing the petitioners, told Israeli Army Radio. "These petitions mainly target the law enforcement bodies who allowed settlers to build on the lands," he said. Israel annexed territories in the West Bank in east Jerusalem in the 1967 war. The international community and the Palestinians, as well as Israeli left-wingers, condemn expansion of the settlements on the occupied territories. The peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel came to a stop in 2010 over Israeli settlement construction.