Death Is Full of Surprises

Dead soldier's West Bank home at risk

...[the] home of one of Israel's most highly decorated officers killed in the Second Lebanon War faces demolition if the High Court rules it is illegal. Maj. Roi Klein was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor for saving the lives of his fellow soldiers when he jumped on a grenade thrown by Hezbollah operatives during the 2006 war.

The court Monday gave the state four months to conduct hearings for residents living in houses in the Hayovel outpost of the Samaria settlement of Eli, where Klein's family lives, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported Tuesday.

...The court ruling came in the wake of a petition filed by human rights groups Peace Now and Yesh Din in 2005 demanding the homes be demolished.

Residents of the hilltop community southeast of Eli told the newspaper their neighborhood appears in the settlement's master plan, and the first buildings were constructed in 1998...