05470
Sept. 9, 2005

Israel must ask Palestinian Authority
to care for Gaza synagogues, court rules

by Michele Green
Ecumenical News International 

JERUSALEM — Israel’s highest court ordered the government to ask the Palestinian Authority to protect and care for synagogues left behind in the Gaza Strip after Israel completes its withdrawal later this month. 

     The government intended to blow up the synagogues to eliminate the risk that they would be desecrated after the withdrawal. But Jewish groups appealed to the Israeli High Court, which ordered the government to consider leaving the synagogues intact and arranging for the Palestinian Authority to safeguard them. 

     In its Sept. 6 ruling, the seven-judge panel said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should “determine whether there is room” to make a formal appeal to the Palestinian Authority to safeguard the synagogues. Almost 9,000 settlers in the Gaza Strip were evacuated last month. Their homes were demolished.

     The court had ruled earlier that the synagogues could be destroyed if religious fixtures and decor were preserved. It ordered two synagogues in prefabricated buildings moved to Israel.

     The justices changed their view after an outcry from religious Israelis and a ruling from the country’s two chief rabbis that the synagogues were not to be razed.

     The army will be unable to complete the withdrawal until the fate of the synagogues is settled. 

     Palestinian leaders had rejected an unofficial appeal through a U.S. envoy that it take responsibility for the synagogues after the pullout. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie has said the authority would prefer that the Gaza synagogues be destroyed by Israel.