Israel Matzav

Court orders Jews expelled from Migron

For the first time ever, an Israeli court has ordered a Jewish town 'dismantled' and its inhabitants expelled. On Tuesday, the court ordered the destruction of the town of Migron - right off highway 60 - by March 2012.

The ruling, given unanimously by Supreme Court Justice Dorit Beinisch, Justice Miriam Naor and Justice Salim Joubran, noted that the West Bank outpost was built without government permission, illegally and on private land owned by Palestinians. The outpost, located in the Binyamin region of the West Bank 5 km. north of Jerusalem, was first constructed over a decade ago, with NIS 4.3 million from the Ministry of Construction and Housing, but without the proper authorization.

In her 2005 report, Talia Sasson said the outpost was constructed on private Palestinian property, a designation which since has been accepted by the state.

Peace Now first petitioned the High Court to evacuate Migron in 2006, on behalf of Palestinians with claims to the property.

The state agreed in principle to evacuate the outpost, but has yet to make good on that pledge.

The matter has returned to court a number of times with the state requesting more time to come up with a plan to evacuate the outpost and rehouse its residents.

In Tuesday's ruling, the Justices remarked that the High Court had acceded to repeated requests by the state to be allowed additional time to deal with the outpost, in order to "allow dialog and come to a mutual agreement over a solution".

The Justices noted that a total of five hearings had been held, in which various plans were discussed regarding the evacuation of the West Bank outpost, which the state does not dispute is illegal.

In 2008, the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip struck a deal with the government, in which it promised that Migron would be voluntarily removed to the nearby settlement of Geva Binyamin (Adam) within two years.

However, in July's hearing the High Court learned that plans to evacuate Migron residents to Adam were not progressing at a reasonable pace, and that the chances of that plan being a success still in doubt, not least because Migron residents themselves had not agreed to relocate.

In Tuesday's ruling, the Justices slammed the state for failing to draw up a reasonable schedule for evacuating Migron to the nearby Adam settlement, despite repeated court hearings to discuss the matter and repeated requests by the state to be granted extensions to implement the plan.

The Justices also noted that the state had not negotiated directly with Migron residents to gain approval for the plan, but had done so through the Yesha Council, and that Migron residents had not expressed their agreement to the plan to move them to Adam.

"The residents of Migron have so far refrained from responding or presenting themselves for a hearing before us and have also refrained from making any statement that transferring them to the new neighborhood in Adam is acceptable to them - and the state has not asked them to make such a statement," wrote the Justices.

The fact that three years had passed without agreement since the plan was originally raised "indicates that it will not come to fruition in the forseeable future," the Justices added.

With the Adam relocation plan in doubt even three years after it was first suggested, the Justices wrote, "there is no justification to preserve the illegal situation and to continue to violate Palestinian residents' property rights."

If they don't reach an agreement with the Migron residents, I suspect that they are going to have a little trouble finding someone to enforce an expulsion order. Unless Defense Minister Ehud Barak is willing to call in the Yassamnikim (SWAT team), which are largely 'minorities' (Arabs and Bedouin), I have my doubts the expulsion order can be enforced. Prime Minister Netanyahu's government will not be happy calling in the Yasamnikim. And as President Jackson remarked in 1832, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!";[119].

Heh.

Labels: Dorit Beinish, Migron, Miriam Naor, Salim Jubran, Supreme Court

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:14 AM