In a verdict delivered Thursday, the Jerusalem District Court recognized a Jewish resident of Mitzpe Avichai as a permanent resident, and told the IDF it could not keep him away from his home by declaring the location a "closed military zone."

Judge Refael Yaakobi rejected the state´s appeal of a verdict handed down by the Magistrates´ Court. The Magistrates´ Court had decided that the police were wrong in their interpretation of the meaning of a Closed Military Zone order. It ruled that Aryeh Davis is a permanent resident of the Mitzpe Avichai outpost, and that therefore the Closed Military Zone order did not pertain to him.

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Davis commended the judge for his decision. "Thank G-d, at last not only Arabs are ´locals.´ We too are locals. We grew up here, our entire lives. It is no secret that the state wants to make life hard for the settlers in Judea and Samaria. But their motivation to destroy is so great that sometimes they get confused and fail to uphold their own laws."

"The IDF Head of Central Command issued an order proclaiming Mitzpe Avichai a Closed Military Zone, but the order does not apply to residents of the location," Davis explained. "The court put an end to this and determined that they cannot wave the order at us in order to distance the residents… The police did not like the decision but the judge decided as he saw fit."

He said his family would keep on living in Mitzpe Avichai even though it has been torn down several times in the past months. (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 05/10/12)