Migron residents agree to vacate outpost by 2015

After months of talks, settlers accept state plan for relocation

By Michal Shmulovich 11 March 2012, 4:24 pm

Edit

Migron residents protesting calls to vacate their homes outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on February 27. (photo credit: Kobi Gideon/Flash90)

After a lengthy negotiation process, the residents of the Migron outpost agreed Sunday to leave their homes and move to a nearby location.

The new arrangement calls for them to move to a nearby hill sometime in the next three years.The Supreme Court ordered the outpost be dismantled after determining it was built on private Palestinian land, and the state has been trying to work out a compromise before being forced to vacate the several dozen families living there.

The new location is about one mile away from its current location some nine miles north of Jerusalem, in what will be a government-authorized settlement by 2015.

The negotiations, headed by Minister Benny Begin, lasted several months after Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the West Bank settlers to vacate the premises in a 2011 ruling. The settlers responded with threats to fight.

The Supreme Court ordered the residents to leave Migron by March 31. Migron is considered the largest unauthorized outpost in the West Bank, with some 60 homes.

Citing a desire to avoid a civil war, the settlers agreed to the move. The government wants to convene a panel to explore ways to authorize other outposts to avoid such incidents in the future.

The current structures of Migron will be reverted to the Civil Administration of the IDF for a civic project.