Israeli settlers reject Netanyahu's request to evacuate largest outpost in West Bank
PM asks Migron settlers to voluntarily evacuate the outpost and receive support to establish a community on nearby state land in return.
By Barak Ravid and Chaim Levinson Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu West Bank Israel settlementsThe ongoing controversy about the evacuation of the Migron outpost hit a new high Sunday, as settlers angrily rejected a compromise proposal offered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu asked the Migron settlers to voluntarily evacuate the outpost and receive in return support to establish a community on nearby state land. The settlers rejected the proposal and demanded that Netanyahu authorize the Migron outpost's settlement by legislation. They threatened that a Migron evacuation would cost Netanyahu his job, because the national religious public will not tolerate a forcible evacuation of the outpost.
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The West Bank outpost of Migron. |
| Photo by: Haaretz |
At Sunday's cabinet session, Netanyahu evinced support for the compromise formula forged by Minister Benny Begin. "The High Court of Justice has ruled that Migron must be evacuated by March 31," said Netanyahu. "The government wants to carry out the court's decision, in a fashion that involves consent and is peaceful."
Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that under the compromise formula, a new Migron will be built on state lands on an "authorized, planned basis." It will not be on private Palestinian land.
"The government calls on Migron residents to agree to this proposed compromise, and thereby allow the government to turn soon to the court and ask for this compromise arrangement to be approved," Netanyahu stated. "This is a good proposal which does not solve all the problems, but is sufficiently substantive and can solve the Migron issue."
Netanyahu's comments came a week ahead of Likud primaries, in which he vies against right-wing hawk Moshe Feiglin. Likud regulars have been pressuring Netanyahu, asking that the Migron evacuation be bypassed. Opponents of a Migron evacuation included Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat and Minister Yuli Edelstein. This ministerial trio, along with a number of Likud MKs, entreat Netanyahu to solve the Migron issue via a legislative move that would retroactively authorize the outpost and essentially appropriate the land from Palestinian owners in exchange for a compensation payment.
The government's compromise proposal was first brought to the settlers by Begin a few weeks ago, as Haaretz reported in early January. Under Begin's proposal, the state would establish a new settlement on state-owned land, on the same mountain whose summit currently holds the Migron outpost. After the new settlement's establishment, Migron residents would receive the land without the issuance of a tender offer, and they would build homes out of their own funds.
The proposal borrows heavily from a 2007 Migron proposal offer, under which the state would have removed the outpost to a nearby area. The settlers eventually rejected this compromise formula.
Sunday, Migron settlers rejected the new compromise formula. They demand that the government engage "a real clarification" of the land's status. They say that the land never belonged to Palestinians, and that they have deeds attesting to their own purchase of some of the land. These claims were rejected in the past by the Civil Administration.
Migron settlers add that should it turn out that the land is owned by a Palestinian individual or group, the way to solve the impasse is to provide compensation payments.
The settlers are dissatisfied with Begin's handling of the issue, saying that he never really engaged in a dialogue with them. Instead, the settlers say, Begin basically delivered the proposal formula as a dictate.
Underscoring this discontent, Avi Roeh, head of the Binyamin regional council, sent a public letter to Netanyahu demanding that Begin be relieved of responsibilities for dealing with the Migron issue.
The Begin compromise has over the past month stirred internal disputes among settlers. Members of the Yesha settler council support the compromise. Settlement activist Ze'ev Hever, who supports the compromise, informed government ministers that some of the Migron residents are prepared to evacuate, and predicated that compromise opponents will eventually relent.
On the other hand, Roeh is leading opposition to the compromise, together with Likud activists on the West Bank. These opponents view the Begin proposal as a slippery slope that could lead to the evacuation of other outposts.
In lieu of the Begin compromise, hard-line right-wing activists support a bill proposed by MK Zevulun Orlev, under which, after four years of residence in an outpost established on private land, settlers would be allowed to remain and compensations would be relayed to the owners. Migron settlers relayed Sunday that "for some time we have been proposing an array of compromise solutions that would avoid the destruction of this community, and the removal of more than 50 families. Out of respect for the law and the judicial system, we call for a real dialogue with the prime minister and his advisers, so as to work out solutions that will be acceptable to jurists and the High Court."
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What a trick pulled from the bag... to satisfy the EU.
this is legal ??? http://sodot.tv/site/ProDetile.asp?id=1307&CategoryID=1&SubID=812&PageView=1
Feiglin for Prime Minister now !
It is beyond parody
Tell them to get out by sundown then go in with the bulldozers and "Support"??? You mean that legitimate Israeli Tax Shekels should go to pay for their illegal actions????? This country has no moral compass.....
Leave the Israelis Alone for Pete's sake.IT'S THEIR LAND,DAMMIT!
What is settler?
That's on them if they don't listen. No one can say they were not forewarned.
Netanyahu lost his credibility . he does no longer controls internal or external policies. lieberman is the face of is real - Oy Vey and Ishai is is real political Mafiozi who hold the country at ransom. what a disaster, what a shame.
into Syria, Lebanon, Egypt or Jordan. There is no future for Palestinians inside of Israel . There is no peace with Palestinians inside Israel .
their own determination. There will always be war between Palestinians and Jews. The Palestinians will eventually be forced out of Israel's borders and kept out.
send them to gaza
and make them pay for all the costs for it! Make a sober and inviting country out of Israel again! What the Islamist terrorists do not achieve the home made terrorists will achieve in no time!
Rabin was right when he called the settler the cancer at the body of Israeli democracy
The PM offered them a lesser felony, but they rejected that as well.
When settlers were forcibly evacuated from Gaza Israel's reward was thousands of rockets fired by Hamas on to Israel. Please don't make the same mistake again. Build, build, build.
This shows Israel is an apartheid state. It shows no ethnic regard for the Palestinians. Racism comes out of the pores of Zionism. That's shameful. People objected to when people said Zionism is racism at the UN. It was the truth, and it's more the truth now than before. If it's the land of Palestinian land owners, the Palestinians shouldn't be forced to sell because Jews want that land. It's racism, period. It's like when whites in Georgia 200 years ago demanded that Cherokee be moved because they wanted the land. Israel has many people they place in the West Bank with this 1832 colonial mentality.
The courts have handed down a decision to evacuate and if the settlers are trying to circumvent or ignore that order they become felons and should be dealt with accordingly. They are blatantly manipulating facts and truth by first stating: "the land never belonged to Palestinians, and that they have deeds attesting to their own purchase of some of the land. These claims were rejected in the past by the Civil Administration." They then have the audacity to continue in the same breath: " that should it turn out that the land is owned by a Palestinian individual or group, the way to solve the impasse is to provide compensation payments." - contradicting themselves and their own position; proving that they have no legal basis in fact to support their claims. This case of the Meron evacuation is extremely important because it will set a precedent for other court-ordered evacuations to follow. That's why it is imperative for Netanyahu to stand firm by the judicial system and by democratic procedures - else he will be doomed to lose altogether whatever slim approbation he may now still enjoy in some quarters and he will be recorded in the annals of history as the Prime Minister who sold out the soul of the country for a few votes.
What a fun , unpunished land theft. He can play aftrwords to hunt Palestinians. That what israeli governmant want them according to Zionist plan to get more "lebensraum". Of course peace talks would be helpful. War is necessary after so many unjustice and opression. And Israel is then helpful because wants war in the Middle east by attacking Iran, So let is begin
Pay attention to Daniela Weiss. As she says there is no room for compromise with these people.
remove the outpost as soon as possible. Anything else is unacceptable. You cannot have a group of lawbreakers who refuse any compromise make a mockery of justice... Give in now and it means that the settlers are officially above the law AND above the rule of the government of Israel....that should worry anyone
And forced the Arab claimants to pay the Migron residents 7000 NIS and the State 12,000. For the Arabs, this was a great deal. They lied and only had to pay a small sum- which will be picked up by Peace Now (meaning, the EU), and have caused huge unnecessary strife among the Yahud.
bank in the first place you would not have this problem.
Is this due to EU pressure on Bibi? Why would Bibi take Jewish land and evacuate it of Jews? It makes no sense to remove Jews who legally own the land and are living on it. For what? and why?
I was surprised at the Supreme Court decision. All lands for which ownership cannot be definitively proved normally revert to the state. This should then have been declared state land. The Legislature should pass a law retroactively and then once and for all settle the jurisdiction of the Israeli Supreme Court. up until the Supreme Court has acted in an arbitrary, tyrannical fashion. No democracy such as United States would tolerate a self-perpetuating group divorced from the overwhelming public opinion in Israel. Having been raised in the leftist camp, I know that the left demeans the right and believes it rules through divine wisdom.
You know it!
time to throw the bums out. to agree with an earlier post, in any normal country they would be not only tossed out but fined or in jail. I fear the Netanyahu and the feckless Barak will cave again
Never mind the Palestinians, the Iranians, any one else. They will destroy themselves.
So shameful.
Nope. Can't be done. Israel is not the sovereign, and so "eminent domain" is not available to it. So what the settlers are demanding amounts to "confiscation" by an occupying power, and that is unconditionally prohibited by the Hage Regulations.
It is preposterous for Bibi to offer these people to "receive in return support to establish a community on nearby state land". Removing one illegal settlement to establish another one is just moving the problems around, not solving them. Private land or "state land", all settlements in the West Bank are ILLEGAL. They ALL need to be dismantled, and their population moved behind the Green Line. The world should make the Israeli regime very clear about this.
Why should they leave? It's the State of Israels land.
Of course, the truth is no Israeli leader since Rabin or perhaps Sharon was actually serious about honoring Israel's obligations to stop Settlement construction and remove illegal outposts. This is only a bit of peace fakery, a prelude to an Israeli strike on Iran.
Watch Bibi slink away, a cowardly dog with his tail between his legs. The Settlers know that Israel is a nation where they, not law, or Netanyahu rules.
If Netanyahu caves that will be the sign that Israel really has a government. If so, a banana republic.
LOL
toof
Is it on the basis of what they think is right or is there some legal reference? If they use their own personal judgment then they are not following the law but doing what is in their own mind a worthy political objective. But that is not their job. If they are basing their decisions on prior British law then based on what time period they are using, no Jews should be in any part of Israel, or alternatively Jews can live in any part of the West Bank. granted there is some personal input into most judicail decisions but there should also be some legal framework, for if not, dismiss the Knesset and replace it with the court.
Heck, that's an easy one. Article 46 of the Hague Regulations 1907 tells the occupying power that: "Private property cannot be confiscated."
I like the idea of dismissing the Knesset and replace it with the courts, You are smart, and who do you think introduced these laws? isn't it the Knesset
Previous Likud governments have done nothing but lied to Jews. They are worse than Labor ever was.We all know that once Migron is taken down there will never be another adjacent town built. Some members of the Yesha council who are in favor of this deal are obviously working with Begin to screw the settlers.
Screw the settlers who screwed the Palestinians out of their land. And the compensation? Okay, I'll go to Sam's house, steal it and then compensate him as I see fit. Your new golden rule: screw unto others as you would have others screw you.
the settlers are screwing the government, yes the whole of Israel. First they build without permission making a mockery of justice Than they threaten and threaten some more...is that the way citizens should behave towards their government. Remove the outpost is the only feasible thing to do now they reject all compromise
Screw the settler, I hope they enjoy it.
The Settlers arm themselves against their own Jewish government. What real chance do you think they have to live in peace under a Muslim government? Yea, that's right. None at all.
and they will have the same rights palestinians have in Israel and the same freedom of movement!
Would you want these renegades in your country?
Whose money will be paying this compensation? Whose money will be paying for the infrastructure and the army presence to allow these "people" to squat on a hill-top? Whose money will pay for the world-wide shame that Israel is garnering by the day for its inability to deal with a bunch of messianic hill-billies who value their crazy manifest destiny more than they value raising their families as members of civil society?
Money from the 3-6 billion USD provided annually to the Zionist Regime.........thanks to the hardworking, tired and broke American Taxpayer.
I have been looking for a name for these dispicable people and now I have found it. Thanks!
Israel is not the sovereign power, and so eminent domain is not available to it. It is an occupying power, and as such is prohibited from confiscating land even if it "pays compensation" for that confiscation.
It is the money of every Israeli, every US taxpayer and probably yours and mine!It is that easy. If these bunch of feiglings were Palestinians, they will be forced by arms, not trying to persuade them to leave by any other means.
If they have legitimate deeds then the land is theirs. If the Cival Administration made a politcal decision that cannot be reviewed by the courts then the settlers have been denied a chance to prove their claims in court before a neutralarbiter and the state is acting illegally. The High Court has stated that it is not interested in hearing claims as to whose land it is. This whole judicial process is a sham and the settlers are right to rise up against it. Politcal decisions have been made here under the guise of a fair judicial process.
This all process has gone through the courts and ownership was decided. The Supreme Court is not the court for finding facts. This is a lower court's job.
But Israel is not the sovereign power, it is the occupying power. Therefore the court isn't bothered by the question "who owns the deeds?" but by the question "do these outposts violate int'l humanitarian law?"
Lying does equal logic, logo us is bogius
Millions of people have died worldwide just over land theft, Frank.
Migron represents land theft. It was built without authorization on PRIVATE Palestinian land. In any normal country, the squatters would be kicked out. In Israel they are offered free land and rebuilding their houses on it. Sounds like an excellent deal for them. If they insist, let them just be kicked out with no compensation. Enough is enough. Their threats are also empty. They don't vote for Likud but for the Settlers Party (Ichud Leumi), so Netanyahu will be affected only marginally.
A false accustion is crime, but in this case there has been theft and the criminals are being given the chance of obtaining the value of the theft as a`political gift.
it and take its lands, as the Pals and their Arab allies did in 47, 67 & 73, they should forfeit their lands. That would put a stop to theft. In any event ultimately the Pals enjoy any title they have to land to the the violence of the sword. Illegitimate title, illegimate goals and really counterfeit, very, very violent people.
Maybe. But the accusation has to be false, and in this case it happens to be true. Sorry.
Cast of characters: Obama = The great flea. Bibi = The little flea. The settlers = The lesser fleas. Wait! Does this mean that the settlers are the most powerful people in the world? Obama is only third?
In a previous post you claimed that historical anti-antisemitism was caused by the Jews aggressiveness and greed. Let us understand your point - Europeans hated and brutalized Jews over the centuries because of JEWS aggressiveness and greed. I assume you have a basic knowledge of European history - the incessant wars, the imperalism, the colonsialism, the crusades, the conquests, the death and destruction, the plundering of the world. Surely the Europeans were deeply offended by the Jews aggression and greed during those years. (Talk about projecting) Likewise the Arabs, conquerers of half the world by war, converters of millions to their relgion by the sword, sellers of millions into slavery, also tormented the Jews during those years because they were offended by the Jews aggression and greed. You have demonstrated very well, better than any psychologist or professor could, the sickness of the bigot's mind. Thank you.
It'll save you from having to do it again later!
Why don't you move to Sderot. The government will destroy your current house and build you one in Sderot.
Who is running the government in Israel ,the hoodelem , mafia settlers ,self rightous , pious creatures .
History will always make you look like a fool. These settlements are illegal and should bring Israel sanctions and world condemnation for it.