Currently, homes in such communities in Judea and Samaria can be demolished by a court order, based only on a claim by an Arab that the land belongs to him. Regardless of whether or not the Arab claimant brings proof, the courts generally order the demolition of structures, although ownership of the land does not necessarily automatically fall to the Arab.
The decision on whether the claim is valid is usually made by a Civil Administration official, who does not have any legal standing on land ownership matters at all. The High Court, which adjudicates such cases, does not examine the validity of the claim in advance, but accepts the official's position as the deciding one.
After issuing the demolition orders, the court decides the merits of the claimant's case. Often, such claims are found to be false. The new law would require that the Arab claimant prove ownership or another relationship to the land before the demolition orders become valid. This was the case in a recent demolition order issued for Migron; security forces fulfilled the demolition order, but an examination of the case in court later showed that the land in question did not actually belong to the claimant. A pending demolition order for the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El is based on the claim by an Arab that the land belongs to him, even though the land was purchased legally from a different Arab.
