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Last update - 22:03 12/08/2008
Government to move illegal outpost Migron to existing settlement
By Reuters
Tags: settlement, Israel, migron 

The government will expand a West Bank settlement to absorb dozens of people listed for eviction from the hilltop outpost of Migron, built six years ago without government authorization, an official said on Tuesday.

The U.S.-sponsored "road map" for peace, reaffirmed at the Annapolis summit last year, calls for Israel to freeze all settlement activity on land slated for the future Palestinian state.

Israel has continued to expand settlements it intends to hold onto as part of a peace deal, but says it will not build new enclaves in land it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War or confiscate more Palestinian land for settlers.
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The Defense Ministry, seeking to avoid violent confrontations with settlers vowing to resist evacuation from the outpost near Ramallah, has agreed to move them peacefully to another enclave.

A ministry official denied to Reuters that Israel had agreed to build a new settlement for the 40 families living in Migron, but said "an agreement in principle" was reached to expand an existing settlement to absorb them.

Ishai Hollander, spokesman for the Yesha council, said on Monday that the Defense Ministry had proposed building a new settlement near Migron for those listed for evacuation. The ministry initially declined to comment.

Yesha council will inform the ministry of its chosen location for the Migron evacuees, it decided on Monday, having rejected a similar resolution last week.

The High Court of Justice had given the Defense Ministry until this month to present a plan for removal of the outpost, built without government authorization on privately owned Palestinian land.

The defense official said the settlers would not be moved until new homes had been built elsewhere, which could take months.

Migron is one of the biggest of dozens of outposts that Israel itself considers unlawful.

Peace Now said that the government must not tolerate the "clandestine laundering" of Migron, and that it strongly opposes the construction of additional houses in the West Bank.

The Palestinians have already accused Israel of bad faith during the nine-month-old Annapolis peace process for approving the expansion of other settlements, mostly in and around Jerusalem. Last month a defense panel proposed building an entirely new settlement in the Jordan Valley.

In his talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Olmert has proposed returning 92.7 percent of the West Bank and all the Gaza Strip, according to Western and Palestinian officials.

Scandal-hit Olmert, who announced he would resign when his party chooses a new leader next month, has also proposed a 5.3 percent land swap for major settlement blocs which Israel wants to keep as part of any accord.

Related articles:
  • Israel weighs proposal for new West Bank settlement near Jerusalem
  • Migron founders: Gov't okayed, funded settlement
  • State: Migron outpost to be evacuated within six months
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      1.   A total freeze was agreed. 14:39  |  Boycott 12/08/08
      2.   Israel 15:47  |  Mrs. from USA 12/08/08
      3.   #1, Boycott? 15:59  |  Mike 12/08/08
      4.   Illegal outpost in existence for 6 years! 16:46  |  Silvienne 12/08/08
      5.   Mrs. from USA 22:11  |  dianu1 12/08/08
      6.   Serious about illegal settlements? 00:24  |  Dee 13/08/08
      7.   4 Silvienne,greetings! All settlements are illegal! 00:32  |  lakshmi 13/08/08
      8.   more building 03:35  |  yuval 13/08/08
      9.   Let them stay, some arabs in israel some jews in the west bank 07:54  |  Troy Zamorano 14/08/08
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