An expanded panel of the High Court on Thursday upheld the government's plan to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, removing a major legal obstacle to the pullout.

The 11-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Aharon Barak also determined that "Judea and Samaria [West Bank] and the Gaza area are lands seized during warfare, and are not part of Israel."

The panel rejected 12 petitions by opponents to the withdrawal from all Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements, ruling the pullout can go ahead as planned and does not violate the settlers' human rights.



http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/586419.html