Israel's Supreme Court orders state to dismantle largest West Bank outpost

[Scurrilous]

Unprecedented ruling states that Migron must be razed by April 2012; Israeli government had admitted outpost was built on lands belonging to Palestinians, but has thus far failed to dismantle it.

<snip>

"Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an unprecedented ruling ordering the state to dismantle the largest illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank by April 2012.

The decision follows a petition filed by Peace Now movement.

Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch harshly criticized the Israeli government for failing to dismantle the outpost of Migron, which is home to some 50 families, despite earlier promises it would do so and after it had admitted that it was in fact built on lands belonging to Palestinians.

Beinisch said the Supreme Court has tried to show restraint despite the blatant illegality of the outpost.

"There is no doubt, that according to Israeli law, no settlements can be built on private lands of Palestinians," Beinisch said."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-s-supreme-court-orders-state-to-dismantle-largest-west-bank-outpost-1.376583


Takes me back...

[The Magistrate]

1. Hopefully, Sir, Netanyahu Will Not Go All 'Old Hickory' On This Directive....

[bemildred]

7. That would be a pleasant change, Sir. The rule of law and all that, even in the OPT. nt

[Violet_Crumble]

2. Thanks for posting that thread from 2006.

'shortly'. Heh heh

[King_David]

3. Good but unfortunate they have to be FORCED to do the right thing. nt

[bemildred]

4. Just one more Friedman Unit ... nt

[Scurrilous]

5. Israeli army: 3 houses razed in West Bank outpost

<snip>

"Israeli military bulldozers razed three buildings in an unauthorized West Bank settlement outpost before dawn on Monday, clashing with defiant settlers who reject a Supreme Court ruling ordering the enclave to be dismantled, the military said.

Migron has become a settlement of defiance and a large contingent of soldiers and police were sent to the outpost, which is the largest in the West Bank and home to some 50 settler families. Other buildings were standing on the site, along with temporary structures, and it wasn't clear why the military was specifically ordered to demolish the three that were razed.

Settlers scuffled with security forces and the military said several people were arrested.

Outposts are the more than 100 wildcat enclaves that settlers erected in a bid to claim more West Bank land where Palestinians want to build a state."

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18827664

[Violet_Crumble]

6. They're not houses, they're mobile homes, and there's about another 57 to go.....

I found a photo in this article http://www.smh.com.au/world/israeli-outpost-ordered-removed-20110803-1ibjj.html


From the same article:

'Noting that efforts to negotiate a voluntary move by the 300 settlers at Migron to a neighbouring settlement had dragged on for nearly three years without success, the court ordered the government to remove the outpost by the end of March. The judges said there was no justification for further violation of the law and of the landowners' rights to their property.'

You've really got to wonder whether they're allergic to living in Israel or something...

[Scurrilous]

8. IDF steps up efforts to keep West Bank outposts raids under wraps

Evacuations carried out by troops brought in from outside, only commander informed of operation in advance.

<snip>

"The military establishment has recently begun excluding soldiers and officers who serve in the West Bank from operations to evacuate unauthorized Jewish outposts there.

Evacuations are carried out by troops brought in from outside, and only the sector commander will be informed in advance of the operation.

The main purpose is to prevent the recurrence of incidents in which plans were leaked to settlers, who then called in hundreds of protesters to block the evacuating forces, sometimes violently.

There have also been several incidences of soldiers stationed in the West Bank who have refused to provide security for evacuations.

The new arrangements come in the wake of increasingly tense relations between the Israel Defense Forces and some West Bank settlers. Tensions erupted most recently Wednesday night near Shiloh when a group of settlers blocked passage of an army vehicle and assaulted soldiers."

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/idf-steps-up-efforts-to-keep-west-bank-outposts-raids-under-wraps-1.388854

[Scurrilous]

9. 38 MKs to PM: Don't raze settlements on Palestinian land

Legislators, including over half of Netanyahu's party, send letter to the premier demanding he save homes built on private Palestinian land.

<snip>

"Thirty-eight parliamentarians appealed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday morning not to demolish settler homes located on private Palestinian property.

More than half of Netanyahu’s Likud party faction, 15 out of its 27 MKs, signed onto the letter penned by Land of Israel group's Knesset lobby.

Other signatories included eight MKs from the Shas party, six MKs from Israel Beiteinu, the four National Union members and the three members of HaBayit HaYehudi. One MK from Kadima and one from United Torah Judaism also signed.

Included on the list were five ministers, Eli Yishai of Shas, Daniel Hershkowitz of Habayit Hayehudi, Uzi Landau of Israel Beiteinu and Likud ministers Yuli Edelstein and Yossi Peled.

The letter comes on the heels of last month’s demolition of three homes at the Migron settlement outpost, and ahead of the anticipated demolition of the entire outpost, which the state says is located on private Palestinian property."

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=241285

[Scurrilous]

10. Christians stand with threatened Jewish settlement

<snip>

"Some 200 Christians traveled to the threatened Jewish community of Migron in Samaria on Sunday to stand in solidarity with the pioneering Jews who live there.

Despite being originally established with tacit government approval and the cooperation of the Israeli army, Migron has been repeatedly targeted for uprooting as an "illegal" settlement outpost. Most recently, the government of Israel ordered the destruction of the village's first three permanent homes. The rest of the residents have lived for years in trailer homes.

The Palestinian Arabs and the international community claim such outposts are the primary obstacle to peace in the region.
But Jan Willem van der Hoeven and the pilgrims joining him for the International Christian Zionist Center's (ICZC) Feast of Tabernacles celebration brought a different message.

"Be strong and very courageous," Van der Hoeven told the 50 Jewish families that live in Migron. "Do not give up the fight for the land God gave your people forever."

The beleagured community, seemingly without a friend in the world, was surprised but touched as the hundreds of Christians prayed over the village and firmly proclaimed the God-given right of the Jews to live there."

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/News/tabid/178/nid/22984/language/en-US/Default.aspx

[Crunchy Frog]

11. Can we keep this thread going as long as we kept the last one?

[Scurrilous]

12. Heh.

:thumbsup:

[King_David]

27. Ha

:thumbsup:

[Crunchy Frog]

13. Israel postpones demolition of illegal outpost, as settlers score major victory

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x371769

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-postpones-demolition-of-illegal-outpost-handing-settlers-a-major-victory-1.394664

Just thought this thread would make a good place to archive links about the progress Israel is making in illegal outpost dismantling.

[azurnoir]

14. Peretz: Evacuation of illegal settlement outposts to begin shortly

Last update - 19:03 23/05/2006

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=126084

[Violet_Crumble]

15. I remember that really long thread...

I still don't understand why it was locked, but thanks for posting it. Saves me going and having to look for it :)

[azurnoir]

16. well dismantlement seems to take quite a long while

perhaps the 'directions' are unclear

[Violet_Crumble]

17. Many years, if at all! n/t

[bemildred]

18. Consider it appended:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=126084

[Crunchy Frog]

19. I think it just got buried in the flood of posts during the war with Lebanon

and got archived.

I think we should maintain this thread as "Son of Peretz: Evacuation of illegal settlement outposts to begin shortly". :)

[Ginas]

20. Where are the pro-Israel steps on the Arab-Palestine state?

Never.

[Violet_Crumble]

21. Can you translate that into something coherent?

I'm not at all sure what yr trying to say there...

[Violet_Crumble]

22. Israel to invite bids for 800 E. Jerusalem homes

JERUSALEM — Israel is to invite tenders for the construction of more than 800 new homes in two settlement neighbourhoods of annexed Arab east Jerusalem, a housing ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

Ariel Rosenberg told AFP the ministry had published formal notice of its intention to invite tenders to build 749 housing units in the southern Har Homa neighbourhood, and another 65 in Pisgat Zeev in the north.

He said the tendering process, which would be launched in "a month or two," was linked to a government directive to speed up settlement construction after the Palestinians won membership of the UN cultural organisation UNESCO.

"It will take a month or two before the tenders will be open to offers. I imagine that in another two or three months, the winners will be chosen and after that -- another year, year and a half -- building will start," he said.

The decision to invite tenders "follows the recent government decision to speed up building in Jerusalem," he said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gTA3SMJe5yg0CU-thbzbppNuBX_A?docId=CNG.e4e461402118db348f30ab6275a98e25.5c1

[Scurrilous]

23. Lieberman: Demolition of illegal West Bank outposts will end Netanyahu cabinet

Foreign Minister tells Yisrael Beiteinu party that planned demolition of Givat Assaf, Migron or handover of Palestinian tax money would result coalition's dissolution.

<snip>

"The coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will unravel if Israel goes ahead with either the planned demolition of two illegal West Bank outposts or the handover of Palestinian tax money to the Palestinian Authority, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday.

Earlier this month, the cabinet postponed the planned demolition of the illegal Givat Assaf outpost by half a year, with settlers pressing to halt the demolition of another outpost, Migron.

Speaking at the weekly meeting of his Yisrael Beiteinu faction, Lieberman said that he had made it clear to Netanyahu that "Migron is not an illegal outpost," adding that it was a settlement established with then Defense Minister Moshe Arens and chief of GOC Central Command standing near the cornerstone."

"How did it become all of a sudden illegal?" Liberman asked, dismissing the 2005 Talia Sasson report on illegal outposts over the latter's later involvement in the left-wing Meretz party.

"That's the reason we should tear down a whole settlement? (A settlement) in which 30 percent of the residents are security officials, and which has since brought forth children who went on to serve in the army?" the FM added.

Lieberman added that he held the same position regarding Givat Assaf, saying that the demolition of one or both of the outposts would be a cause to break up the cabinet. "Yisrael Beiteinu won't be the only one to leave, several Likud members would find such a situation impossible."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/lieberman-demolition-of-illegal-west-bank-outposts-will-end-netanyahu-cabinet-1.396897

[Violet_Crumble]

24. Good. The sooner that happens the better n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

25. An anatomy of an outpost that put Netanyahu in a bind

The long saga of the Migron outpost, home to 50 families, began 12 years ago; High Court of Justice now ruled outpost to be demolished by end of March.

By Chaim Levinson

The first document in the huge Migron file kept by the Civil Administration in the West Bank was written in May 1999 by administration inspector Rami Akrai, who reported on unauthorized roadwork taking place west of the Ramallah bypass road.

Thus began the long saga of the Migron outpost, which 12 years later is home to 50 families. The High Court of Justice has ruled that the outpost must be demolished by the end of March. Until then, however, ministers, MKs, members of Likud and settlement adherents will be exerting enormous pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his ministers and state prosecutors to try and save the community. Indeed, its destruction will cause a serious political upheaval.

Haaretz has obtained the full Migron files from both the Civil Administration and the Housing and Construction Ministry. They paint a picture of the bureaucratic snafus that led to the birth and development of the outpost. While the left hand was making intensive efforts to identify illegal construction and preparing to demolish it, the right hand was pouring enormous resources into building it.

When, after the Oslo Accords, the construction of the Ramallah bypass road made the mountain overlooking the road a strategic spot, Pinhas Wallerstein, then head of the Binyamin Regional Council, decided to find a way to settle it.

First the site was declared an archaeological site. An archaeological site needs a watchman, and a watchman needs a shipping container to sleep in. Naturally he could not sleep there alone, so a few containers were needed, and to get them up there one needed to pave a road.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/an-anatomy-of-an-outpost-that-put-netanyahu-in-a-bind-1.397544

[Scurrilous]

26. Migron settlement ordered removed by 3/12. Will it happen?

<snip>

"Watch this space. Migron is an illegal Jewish outpost of 50 families in the hills east of Ramallah. The Israeli Supreme Court has now ruled that it must be demolished by March 2012. Will it be? Also: Peace Now has concentrated great resources on trying to uproot Migron. Haaretz reports on earlier efforts to remove the settlement:

At the end of 2003, Migron was up in arms. Then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had told the heads of the Council of Jewish Communities in the West Bank that he was planning to evacuate Migron.

On December 14, there was a meeting with OC Central Command Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky and other senior officers that dealt with preparing for the evacuation. The operation was given the code name "Exposed Hill."

After that meeting, Kaplinsky wrote to the chief of General Staff that his men were ready for action, and asked him to "speed up the decision-making by the political echelon." The settler community began to mobilize, and people began to stream to the site to prevent its evacuation....

Within weeks of all this, Sharon began speaking publicly about the disengagement from Gaza, and the evacuation of Migron dropped off the agenda.

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/migron-settlement-ordered-removed-by-312-will-it-happen.html


Peretz: Evacuation of illegal settlement outposts to begin shortly

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=126084

[Violet_Crumble]

28. Court upholds outpost demolition delay

According to the new schedule, the Givat Assaf outpost would now come down in July.

The High Court of Justice Monday upheld a state request to delay the demolition of the Givat Assaf outpost, located in the Binyamin region of the West Bank, which had been scheduled for removal in December.

According to the new schedule, the outpost would now come down in July.


Attorney Michael Sfard, who petitioned the court against the outpost on behalf of Peace Now, said that the legal response did not surprise him.

"Every child in Israel knows by now that the government has no intention of evacuating outposts," Sfard said.

"This delay will only end with another request for an extension," he said, and added that through these kinds of measures, "de facto the government is authorizing outposts." The initial petition involved six outposts, out of which only one Givat Assaf is built entirely on land which, according to the state, is privately owned by Palestinians.


http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=247482

[Scurrilous]

29. "Every child in Israel knows by now that the government has no intention of evacuating outposts.."

Heh. :thumbsup:

[Scurrilous]

30. Legal opinion: No obligation to raze outposts

Activists fighting to legalize West Bank outposts present PM with legal opinion by top lawyer Yaakov Weinroth claiming there is no obligation to demolish outposts built on private land

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158129,00.html

<snip>

"The campaign for West Bank outpost residents has recently turned to top lawyer Yaakov Weinroth for a legal opinion in the issue of outpost razing which the High Court of Justice is discussing.

The opinion states that there is no legal obligation to demolish structures built on private land, particularly if the land owners do not seek an evacuation. Moreover, if such a demand arises, the land owners can be compensated thus avoiding a demolition.

The campaign HQ sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and cabinet ministers which points their attention to the legal opinion. The activists urged Netanyahu "to stop the machine of destruction threatening the communities."

[King_David]

31. Thanks for posting this.

:thumbsup: