Israel Matzav

3 houses razed in Migron

In an earlier post, I reported that three houses in the Jewish village of Migron, which overlooks Route 60, the main north-south highway in Judea and Samaria, were being destroyed by the security forces. As it turns out, there were more than 1,000 border police(!) employed in the operation. (Border police are police who are under the jurisdiction of the IDF. They tend not to include a lot of religious Jewish soldiers, which is why they are used for this purpose).

Around the time I went to sleep, there was some extra drama in the story. The 'Supreme Court' issued an interim injunction against the destruction, but the injunction was lifted just before dawn and the destruction of the homes was carried out.

Let's go to the videotape.

An emergency court injunction received at 2:30 a.m. had initially halted the demolitions just as cranes had arrived at the doorstep of the homes.

nitially the five cranes kept their lights on and their motors running. But after half an hour, they turned them off. The hundreds of Border Police who had stood by the homes with plastic shields and helmets, relaxed their vigilant guard.

Families had already been forced to remove all their belongings from their homes. Sofas, books, tables, chairs and boxes were stacked outside two of the homes. One neighbor sat outside her caravan on the ground in the dark and cried.

"The people in the houses went to the High Court of justice and they gave an order to stop immediately the destruction of the homes until a full hearing is conducted," said Dani Dayan who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

"I understand that the order [to stop the demolitions] was given since there are legal reasons that have real weight," said Dayan as he stood in the outpost, wearing a sweatshirt and holding a document from the court

"The most important thing to understand is that there was no court decision to demolish the homes, there is a commitment by the government," he said.

"I hope the government will reverse its commitment as soon as possible," said Dayan.

He added that he believed the hearing would be held later in the day.

But two hours later, around 4:30 a.m. the injunction was cancelled.

Cranes broke through the walls and the roof of one home, even as workers were pushing a crib out the window of a second.

"But we haven't taken all our stuff out," cried a woman who lived in the house, as she stood watching.

Police tried to assure her that the cranes would only take down the house after her belongings had been removed.

Just prior to the demolitions some 100 teens tried to break through a police barrier next to the house. They pulled back as a group and then rushed the police only to be blocked by the plastic shields. A few teens threw stones. In others instances teens and the police scuffled.

...

nitially the five cranes kept their lights on and their motors running. But after half an hour, they turned them off. The hundreds of Border Police who had stood by the homes with plastic shields and helmets, relaxed their vigilant guard.

Families had already been forced to remove all their belongings from their homes. Sofas, books, tables, chairs and boxes were stacked outside two of the homes. One neighbor sat outside her caravan on the ground in the dark and cried.

"The people in the houses went to the High Court of justice and they gave an order to stop immediately the destruction of the homes until a full hearing is conducted," said Dani Dayan who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

"I understand that the order [to stop the demolitions] was given since there are legal reasons that have real weight," said Dayan as he stood in the outpost, wearing a sweatshirt and holding a document from the court

"The most important thing to understand is that there was no court decision to demolish the homes, there is a commitment by the government," he said.

"I hope the government will reverse its commitment as soon as possible," said Dayan.

He added that he believed the hearing would be held later in the day.

But two hours later, around 4:30 a.m. the injunction was cancelled.

Cranes broke through the walls and the roof of one home, even as workers were pushing a crib out the window of a second.

"But we haven't taken all our stuff out," cried a woman who lived in the house, as she stood watching.

Police tried to assure her that the cranes would only take down the house after her belongings had been removed.

Just prior to the demolitions some 100 teens tried to break through a police barrier next to the house. They pulled back as a group and then rushed the police only to be blocked by the plastic shields. A few teens threw stones. In others instances teens and the police scuffled.

YNet adds:

According to Chairman of the Binyamin Settlers' Council Itzik Shadmi, "Binyamin demands real justice and not the kind of justice that comes out of the Supreme Court. Bibi is trying to appease the Left after Saturday's social protest rally, divorcing the settlement enterprise in Yesha with his bare hands. He promised that when he would become prime minister, homes would not be destroyed."

MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) said in response, "It fits Bibi to try and divert public opinion from the public protests by beating up on the settlers. There are too many advisors in his bureau that are capable of advising him to harm the settlements while using the 'hit the settlers and save yourself' method."

Migron is the largest and most developed outpost in the West Bank. Over 50 families live in the outpost. About a month ago, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish and the honorable Miriam Naor and Salim Joubran ruled that the State must evict Migron by March 2012.

In their ruling, the judges noted that the case of Migron "is one of the most difficult and aberrant cases of illegal outposts brought before this court."

Three months ago, the State committed to demolish three permanent structures built in Migron during Passover within 45 days. The decision sparked debate between government officials and Yesha Council representatives, and days before the deadline, Defense Minister Ehud Barak petitioned to the High Court in a request to postpone the demolition due to "operational reasons."

Justices Beinish, Naor and Joubran deplored the State for delaying the demolition of the outpost despite its previous commitments. "You do not have a deadline," said Justice Joubran, "You determine everything by what the residents of Migron and Yesha Council say."

So this is how we solve our housing problem? By creating more homeless Israelis?

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli border police, Migron, outposts, Supreme Court

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:21 AM