On 1 September 2010, Israel’s High Court of Justice sanctioned the looting of land and the unlawful building carried out in establishing the Derekh Ha’avot outpost, near the Elazar settlement, in the Etzion Bloc. The court’s decision was made even though the state had declared for almost nine years that the construction in the outpost was unlawful. The court rejected Peace Now’s petition, filed in 2008, demanding evacuation of the outpost and its residents, who had taken control of land they did not own and had built houses without obtaining a building permit. It also refrained from ordering the state to set a binding time-table for enforcing the law. The court based its decision, written by Justice Edmond Levy, with justices Edna Arbel and Neal Handel concurring, on the claim that the court refrains, as a rule, from interfering in priorities of the defense establishment relating to law enforcement. On this pretext, the Israeli judicial system, including Supreme Court justices sitting as the High Court of Justice, has not ordered enforcement of the law on the outposts for 12 years.