Sunday, July 24, 2011

High Noon at Migron: Will the Bulldozers Roll In?

Gil Ronen

There is tense anticipation Sunday (July 24) in the community of Migron in the hills of Binyamin, where government bulldozers could roll in at any moment to destroy three homes.


The State informed the High Court in a June hearing that it would tear down the three structures, which the court deemed illegal, within 45 days. Those 45 days end today.

The State’s commitment was given in a response to a motion filed by Peace Now, a group that supports Arab irredentist efforts to take over land within Israel. The response was submitted despite Peace Now’s decision to withdraw its own motion, after understanding that it was legally flawed. eace Now realized that its motion names certain plots of land that are different from the ones that the structures are built upon, and therefore irrelevant to the legality of the structures. However, it said it would file a new motion with the correct plot numbers if the demolitions do not take place.





Nationalist MKs and many concerned citizens have visited Migron since the June court session in a public campaign to thwart the demolitions. However, the State has not withdrawn its reply to the Court, and the commitment to carry out the demolitions.



Several Government ministers contend that the demolitions will not take place and that a compromise solution can be worked out. One such idea is that the structures be sealed instead of razed. Another suggests that three caravan homes be demolished instead of the three permanent structures.



Migron’s residents published a statement that says that “A wall-to-wall coalition of ministers, including the Ministerial Committee for Settlement and even the Minister of Defense himself have already decided [against demolition] – they realize that destruction in Migron is not good at this point in time.”



The High Court Motions Department in the Ministry of Justice is holding up the instruction to call off the demolition, because it cannot admit a mistake, they speculated.

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