After families evacuated on time, state given until November 15 to remove Ulpana buildings to Beit El settlement. The High Court of Justice on Sunday extended the deadline by which the state must remove five stone apartment buildings in the Ulpana outpost, from July 1 to November 15.

The court had initially ordered the removal of the structures, located on the outskirts of the Beit El settlement, by July 1, because they were built without permits on land classified by the state as belonging to private Palestinians.

But already last Tuesday the state asked for a delay, to allow it time to relocate the structures. Each has three floors.

It explained to the court that it believed it had satisfied the terms of its order, because the 33 families who had lived in the buildings would leave by June 29, last Friday.

The buildings would then be sealed, the state said.

It said it planned to break the structures into 18 pieces, starting with the roof, moving on to doors and windows and then taking down the various floors.

By Friday, as stated in the state’s request, the 33 families had relocated to modular homes on land authorized for residential use in Beit El.

On Sunday, the court said that it saw no reason not to accept the state’s request for more time to move the apartment buildings. (© 1995-2011, The Jerusalem Post 07/02/12)