Ofra's settlement fence was built without permits over wide swathes of land belonging to the Palestinian villages of Deir Dibwan and Silwad. The IDF has confirmed that permits were lacking, and undertook to rebuild the fence closer to Ofra within 2012. Top quality soil from this agricultural land is systematically 'stolen' for settlement use. One house near the settlement, owned by the Palestinian Shehadeh family, who won a Jerusalem district court judgement in their favour, is still used as a yeshiva for Ofra's married men, and was "expro"priated by the IDF in favour of the settlers 10 days after the verdict was passed. In the wake of a suit filed in 2008, on 9 February 2015, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the demolition of 9 Ofra homes as standing on land with Palestinian title. The government was given two years to demolish the housing. Police began evacuating settlers and protesters on 28 February 2017 from nine Ofra houses ordered for demolition by an Israeli High Court order.