WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: Settlers sign an agreement with the Israeli government to evacuate their outpost in the occupied West Bank

Record ID: 860481

  • Title: WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: Settlers sign an agreement with the Israeli government to evacuate their outpost in the occupied West Bank
  • Date: 12th March 2012
  • Summary: MIGRON SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK (FILE) (REUTERS) MIGRON SETTLEMENT NEAR BY PALESTINIAN VILLAGE OF BURQA
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4F01YOOKYXV7HQPS4RUW6VDM2
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Settlers signed an agreement with the Israeli government on Sunday (March 11) to evacuate their unauthorised outpost in the occupied West Bank after months of negotiations to avoid their forcible removal.
    The 50 families of Migron will not move far. Under the deal with the coalition government, comprised mainly of pro-settler parties, they will be relocated to nearby land within the boundaries of an existing settlement.
    "This agreement is intended to fulfil the high court ruling and to prevent unpleasant scenes that we have seen in other places where there was an eviction and demolition of houses," said the spokesperson for Migron Settlement, Itai Hemo.
    "It is important to stress that the government erected this settlement 12 years ago and this was one of the main reasons why minister Begin saw himself as an honest emissary of this story. The government has taken responsibility for a settlement that it erected and the residents who have lived here for more than a decade will not be thrown into the streets," he added.
    Over the past decade the government has spent at least 4 million shekels ($1.1 million) on establishing and maintaining the cluster of squat, prefab bungalows, even building a neat tarmac road up the steep incline to the treeless ridge.
    Yet despite all that state help, Migron is an illegal outpost, even under Israeli law.
    In an unprecedented ruling in August 2011, Israel's Supreme Court told the government to evacuate Migron, 32 km (20 miles) east of Jerusalem, by March 31, 2012. The land, the court said, belonged to Palestinians.
    The new site allocated to the settlers is on land that is not under private Palestinian ownership, Israeli officials said.
    A spokeswoman for the anti-settlement advocacy group Peace Now called the agreement "a disgrace".
    "The government of Israel is actually saying we will not evict Migron, we will not do what the Supreme Court told us. And we will give in to any settlers threat, whatsoever. And it sends a message that Israel is not going to peace, but to build more settlements," Hagit Ofran told Reuters Television.
    While the United Nations deems all Jewish settlements in the region to be illegal, Israel backs 120 official settlements, home to some 310,000 people.
    Most of these blocs, in the West Bank where 2.5 million Palestinians live, are expected to be absorbed into Israel in any Palestinian peace accord.
    There are also more than 100 outposts built without official authorization that dot the West Bank and are home to almost 2,000 people. Migron is the largest such community.
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