Deputy minister says West Bank memorial to fallen soldiers can be moved

Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan says he has found a solution for a memorial monument for two soldiers in the West Bank slated to be destroyed for being placed on private Palestinian land.

Ben-Dahan says after touring the site, near the outpost of Netiv Ha’avot in the Etzion settlement bloc south of Jerusalem, he has found that the memorials for Lt. Col. Emmanuel Moreno and First Lt. Asher Ezra can be moved to a nearby plot.

“The monuments will not be destroyed. We will move it a few meters forward and the monument, along with the lookout spot, will stay whole and healthy,” he says, according to Army Radio.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely seen with the father and brother of Emmanuel Moreno stands by his memorial monument at the Netiv HaAvot outpost in Gush Etzion, on December 6, 2016. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely seen with the father and brother of Emmanuel Moreno stands by his memorial monument at the Netiv HaAvot outpost in Gush Etzion, on December 6, 2016. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

In March, the High Court ruled that the monuments and accompanying lookout were on private land and must be destroyed, responding to a Peace Now petition.

The families of the two had asked for more time to find a solution, but the Peace Now group said Tuesday it was not willing to be flexible, in response to the Knesset pushing ahead with legislation that could see Nativ Ha’avot and other outposts legalized.

Morena and Ezra were killed during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

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