A Palestinian woman from Qalqiliya owns a plot of land in the “seam zone”, west of the separation wall. According to the military’s timetable, applications for “seam zone” entry permits must be answered within two weeks. After the woman’s application was not answered for two months,
HaMoked petitioned the High Court of Justice to instruct the military to issue the permit, and, at minimum, to comply with its own procedures and respond to her application within the required time.
HaMoked asked the court to issue a costs order against the army given its outrageously slow action and since HaMoked had met each and every requirement for awarding a petitioner a costs order, as per the court’s own ruling.
In its response, the state argued that the petition was unjustified because the army had notified HaMoked, prior to the two week deadline for response, that the answer would be delayed. The state also argued that the woman had used the permit she’d had only once, meaning she did not require it urgently. The state also said that HaMoked should have checked on the application’s processing status with the Palestinian coordination office prior to petitioning the court and that once the petition was filed, it acted quickly and issued the requested permit.
The court decided to grant HaMoked’s request and ordered the state to pay 2,000 NIS in trial costs, rejecting its arguments that the petition had been unjustified and that remedies had not been exhausted. The court also rejected the contention that the request for a costs order should be rejected because the woman had not used the permit immediately after receiving it.
