BICOM

Israel’s High Court of Justice yesterday rejected an appeal by settlers to delay the evacuation of an unauthorised outpost in the West Bank.

The court also set a new deadline, 4 September, to evacuate all settlers from the Migron enclave. The court rejected the appeal to stay as an earlier finding noted that the outpost had been built on privately owned Palestinian land.

The court also ruled that the State must raze all of the outpost’s structures by 11 September, apart from those situated on a plot that the Migron residents claim to have legally purchased.

In their ruling, Supreme Court President Asher Grunis and Justices Edna Arbel and Miriam Naor said the eviction must include those settlers who appealed the court and declared that they had purchased some of the land lawfully. The judges said they assume the settlers had in fact purchased the property, but added, “This does not mean the structures should remain intact.”

The judges said that ownership rights are subject to planning laws, which the residents of Migron did not abide by. The court added that the political echelon never made a decision to set up the outpost and that demolition orders for Migron have been issued in the past.

After the ruling, the Defence Ministry said it was prepared to assist the Migron settlers “should an agreement be reached on a voluntary evacuation. If not, the matter will be turned over to the IDF and police, which will handle the evacuation.”

In March, the Supreme Court ruled against an attempt by the government to postpone to 2015 the demolition of Migron. Deferrals against the demolition stretch back to 2006.