The Israeli Supreme Court demanded that the government provide a timetable for completing the necessary steps for the return of Palestinians who were forced by the Israeli army to flee from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps in the northern occupied West Bank, and explore ways to accelerate their return, in a decision that sparked an attack from the Israeli Ministers of Defense and Finance, who insisted on maintaining the military presence in the camps and preventing the return of their residents.
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On Sunday, the court ordered the government to submit a timetable for the return, and gave it until November 23 to submit a supplementary response, in response to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel on behalf of Palestinians displaced from the Jenin and Nur Shams camps.
Since the beginning of 2025, the Israeli army has been preventing thousands of Palestinians, whom it forced to leave their homes in the three camps, from returning to them, during a military operation called “Operation Iron Wall”.
The association said that the displaced people are suffering from difficult economic and humanitarian conditions, noting that the Israeli government claimed, in a statement it submitted to the court last August, that the security situation still prevents the return of the residents, and that the continued presence of the army in the camps is “necessary at this stage.”
She added that the government spoke of plans to establish military sites outside the camps in preparation for withdrawing its forces from them in the future, but acknowledged that work on the planned sites in Tulkarm and Nur Shams is still in its initial stages, in addition to the lack of real progress in coordinating with the Palestinian Authority to transfer responsibility for the camps to it.
In contrast, the petitioners presented, based on data from international and humanitarian organizations, photos and testimonies from residents, what the association said was evidence of the displaced people suffering from severe economic hardship and the failure to meet their basic needs.
The association demanded that decent living conditions be guaranteed for the displaced, including housing, healthcare, water, and food, and that the harm caused by their displacement be mitigated. The court also ordered the government to respond to the request of 53 additional displaced families from the three camps to join the petition.
Attorney Hila Sharon, from the association and the petitioner, said that the camp residents are prevented from returning to their homes, while the government still does not set a date for their return, stressing that “security considerations do not exempt the state from its duty to protect their rights and reduce the harm inflicted on them as much as possible.”
Katz insists on the army's continued existence
In response to the decision, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz attacked the Supreme Court on Monday evening, declaring his commitment to keeping army forces in camps in the northern occupied West Bank “for a long time,” even if it requires enacting special legislation in the Knesset.
Katz said that the Supreme Court should stop interfering in the army's operational activity in the West Bank, claiming that this activity is aimed at protecting the lives of Israeli soldiers and civilians.
He explained that he had agreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after he took office, to change what he called the “Israeli security concept” in the West Bank, by abandoning the frequent military incursions into refugee camps and moving towards imposing long-term military control over them.
Katz claimed that the army had taken control of the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps, claiming that there were armed groups supported by Iran in them. He said that about 40,000 Palestinians had left the three camps, and that the army had killed militants and destroyed infrastructure, homes and streets that it said were linked to armed activities.
He claimed that military operations had led to an 80 percent decrease in attacks in the West Bank, and stressed that the continued military presence in the camps “is not a legal issue, but an operational and security issue,” arguing that the court should not interfere in decisions related to the army’s operations in the West Bank or in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon and Iran.
Smotrich calls for the decision not to be implemented
For his part, Israeli Finance Minister and leader of the “Religious Zionism” party, Bezalel Smotrich, attacked the decision, describing it as “reckless,” claiming that the return of Palestinians to Jenin and Tulkarm threatens Israel’s security.
Smotrich called on Netanyahu and Katz to instruct the army not to cooperate with the court and not to allow the return of the Palestinians, claiming that the decision could allow the rebuilding of what he described as “terrorist infrastructure” in the northern occupied West Bank.
These positions come amid the continued displacement of Palestinians from camps in the northern West Bank, and the escalation of attacks by the Israeli army and settlers throughout the West Bank, coinciding with the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
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