The High Court of Justice has issued an interim ruling prohibiting the Jordan Valley Regional Council from seizing and holding stray Palestinian livestock, a practice it has engaged in on several occasions in recent months, and for which it has charged the Palestinian owners heavy fees.
Four Palestinian herders of sheep and cattle petitioned the High Court earlier this year asking that it order the regional council to halt the practice, return the herders’ livestock that it continues to hold, and return the money some of them have already paid to get their livestock back.
The case has taken on significance due to the fact that the Jordan Valley Regional Council was using one of its own bylaws — which until now have only applied to the Israeli population living in the area — to seize and hold the sheep and cattle of the Palestinian herders, giving rise to claims of de facto annexation since the municipal authority was applying its civilian laws to the local Palestinian population.
After a hearing in front of three justices on June 19, the High Court published its interim decision on Friday, instructing the Jordan Valley Regional Council to desist from enforcing its bylaw regarding stray livestock “regarding animals for which there is a reasonable chance that they are owned by [Palestinian] residents of the area.”
The court did say, however, that the regional council is entitled to remove livestock that pose a danger to public safety or security.
The court also issued a provisional order for the regional council and the IDF to explain why it should not rule in the petitioners’ favor in its final decision, giving them until August 4 to respond.
A final hearing will be set after the state files its response, and the interim orders will remain in place until the court makes a final ruling.
The case involves three separate incidents, in which officials from the regional council seized and removed cows and sheep belonging to the petitioners from areas where they said the livestock were either grazing without a license or endangering public safety. In one case, livestock had allegedly strayed onto a road and in another, the animals had approached a local school.
In the first seizure, the council charged the owners NIS 49,000 ($13,000) for trapping, transporting, and maintaining 19 confiscated cows. In the second incident, the council charged NIS 144,000 ($39,000) for the seizure and maintenance of 200 cows. In the third incident, the council charged two owners NIS 75,000 ($20,000) each for the release of some 600 sheep.
The owners in the first and third incidents managed to raise the sums, one through a crowdfunding campaign, and their livestock was returned. The owner from the second incident has not been able to raise the money and his cattle are still being held by the council.
The regional council says Palestinian-owned stray livestock that wander onto roads persistently pose a safety threat and cause traffic accidents.
It began enforcing its bylaw to solve the problem and says the fees it has charged the Palestinian owners cover transportation, animal feed, and maintenance, and that it does not make any money from the practice.
The petitioners, represented by the Yesh Din organization, which lobbies against the settlements, and human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, insist that only the IDF and the Civil Administration, a Defense Ministry agency, are empowered to deal with stray Palestinian livestock since the owners are not residents of the regional council but a foreign population under military occupation.
The Jordan Valley Regional Council, alleged the petition, “is posing as a governing agent for those who are not its residents [and] do not vote in, or cannot be elected to, its institutions.”
In its provisional orders, the High Court asked the IDF to provide, by July 14, additional information regarding its methods for dealing with stray livestock, indicating that the court believes there is a real problem to be dealt with.