Israel on Sunday proposed a compromise deal allowing residents of an illegal West Bank outpost that the high court has ordered evacuated to stay in their homes while new ones are constructed nearby. The High Court of Justice has ordered the government to demolish the Migron outpost, which was established on private Palestinian land and without government authorisation, by the end of March 2012.
But under a proposal by cabinet minister Benny Begin and approved by the government on Sunday, residents would be allowed to remain in their homes until new ones are built for them around two kilometres away (just over a mile). The new location, also in the West Bank, would be on land under full Israeli control.
The area where Migron currently stands would be handed to Israel’s Civil Administration, the military government that administers the portions of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and military control. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his ministers that the deal could help resolve a sensitive issue.
“This is a good suggestion, it doesn’t solve all the problems, but can solve Migron’s,” he told members of his cabinet. Migron has been facing evacuation for years, but successive Israeli governments have been slow to move on shutting down the outpost, the biggest in the West Bank, for fear of angering the powerful settler movement.
The high court itself noted that it saw “great importance to a peaceful resolution of the issue by consent, rather than by forceful eviction.” Any proposal would have to be approved by Migron’s residents before the court greenlights it.
Israel seeks compromise on illegal outpost
