Compromise said being pushed to prevent demolition of West Bank outpost

Senior government figures are promoting a compromise to prevent the razing of an illegal West Bank outpost that would see at least some parts of the outpost remain in place, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The report comes as Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who is responsible for handling the planned removal of the outpost, vows that it will go ahead.

Political sources tell Kan that a compromise being hammered out would see the state reconsider the status of the land the outpost was built on, with a view to making the community legal.

In the meantime, the site would reportedly become a military post or an educational institute. If the latter happens, then a number of families of staff are expected to continue living in the outpost.

The majority of the Evyatar residents would leave, and their empty homes remain, and if the land is eventually approved for use by the settlers, then they would be able to move back the community, according to the report.

The plan has not yet been approved and may still undergo changes, the sources say. The report does not identify who in the government is pushing the proposal.

Sources familiar with the developments also say that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is keen to avoid the spectacle of the outpost being removed, given the current political situation in which the coalition holds a razor-thin majority in the Knesset.