The municipality, which opposes the evacuation of Sde Dov, is requesting permission to appeal with one of the five leaders of the Greater Block to find out who the owners pulling the strings are and who is fighting for the evacuation of Sde Dov.
In the context of the dispute, attorney Lipka argued that his four colleagues had denied him access to the complete list of landowners and requested a court order compelling them to provide him with the full list, including details such as the ownership rates of each owner.
The quarrel among the leaders erupted in the context of the struggle they are waging against the state, claiming that it violated the agreements signed with them regarding the evacuation of Sde Dov and had recently initiated legal action in court seeking to annul the evacuation agreement. They allege that the state, which is considering a vast residential construction plan, has rejected the evacuation of the land.
The request was filed in December 2017, and during a hearing held before the district court, Judge Yaakov Shaked ordered the managers to provide Lipka with the list of landowners, as well as the ownership rate of each and the date on which the property was acquired. Furthermore, the court gave the managers 30 days to respond to a similar request made by a group of rights holders in the country, represented by attorney Naama Shiff of Law Offices of Shov & Co.
The four directors appealed the decision, and the procedure has now been transferred to the district court. In his request, Lippke complained about the strange behavior of the other four directors: Galit Rozovsky, Eliyahu Minkowitz, Rachel Zakai, and Michael Sheftler.
It is difficult to know who the landowners are
Unlike ordinary lands, in the case of the Greater Block, it is difficult to determine who owns the land, as in 1980, the state signed an evacuation agreement with the rights owners, who would then be represented by administrators appointed by the court due to the large number of owners.
The present request states that the inclusion of the municipality of Eilat is a matter of the highest public interest. The letter specifies that “the director of the Greater Block continues to exert pressure over the years with the declared aim of immediately evacuating Sde Dov for the construction of approximately 16,000 housing units.”
At this stage, the end of aeronautical activity at Sde Dov was scheduled for July 2019. But before the dissolution of the Knesset, a new bill had been presented to allow civil aviation to continue its activities on the land until the construction of another airport in central Israel.
The leaders of the city of Eilat are inseparable from those who have fought in recent years to leave Sde Dov for Tel Aviv, claiming that the evacuation of the land could cause serious damage to the city, both in the domestic tourism sector and for the residents of Eilat.
