Israel builds 'protest' court

2005-06-20 18:57

Jerusalem - Israel has built a special court to try opponents of this summer's Gaza Strip pull-out who are arrested for attempting to scupper the withdrawal, says the Israeli courts authority on Monday.

A spokesperson said the new court was built in less than two months and had been constructed next to Ramleh prison, close to the commercial capital of Tel Aviv.

Maariv newspaper reported that the building included two courtrooms, judges' offices, waiting rooms for lawyers and quarters for defendants being brought from Ramleh.

Israel's plan to uproot all soldiers and the more than 8 000 Jewish settlers living in the occupied Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank was scheduled to begin in mid-August.

Ultra-nationalist Jewish extremists had vowed to wage a campaign of disobedience against the withdrawal, which would mark Israel's first pullout from occupied Palestinian land.

- SAPA