Civil Administration forces on Sunday night began to evacuate the synagogue Ayelet HaShahar synagogue in the town of Givat Ze’ev.

The Supreme Court earlier on Sunday postponed the demolition of the synagogue until August 17, following the intervention of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. While the demolition will be held off until that date, all the equipment in the synagogue will be removed for the time being.

On Monday, the worshipers will hold a special ceremony, following which the Torah scrolls will be removed from the synagogue.

The synagogue, which has been in use for over 20 years, was slated to be demolished after a far-left group filed a petition with the Court, claiming that the structure had been build on privately-owned Palestinian Arab land.

The petition had been working its way through the courts for at least three years. Members of the congregation have offered the land’s alleged owners a high price for the purchase or rental of the land, but they, and their lawyers, have insisted that the synagogue be torn down. It is not clear why the Palestinian claimants waited some two decades to make their claims, the congregants said.

The heads of the congregation are in possession of documents showing that they bought the land from its owners, which is the reason that the court has not yet finalized its decision, their attorneys said. The congregation’s attorneys are hoping to make one final appeal to prevent the demolition. 

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