Netanyahu Prevents Vote on Migron Law

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) instructed the Ministerial Law Committee Sunday morning not to vote on a bill that would prevent the demolition of endangered Jewish communities in Israel’s disputed heartland.

The legislation, known as the Migron Law as its early passage would prevent the demolition of the Migron village scheduled to take place by March of 2012, had been delayed by the cabinet two weeks ago.

Member of Knesset Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), who sponsored the bill, told journalists on Sunday that Netanyahu apparently knows that the bill has the support of a majority of the committee’s members, and therefore wants to avoid a vote.

Orlev repeated previous warnings that he and other members of his three man faction intend to leave the government if Migron is destroyed. Such a move would “send shockwaves through the coalition,” he said.

If the Jewish Home party bolts the coalition, analysts say a domino effect could cause other lawmakers to rebel, including several Likud members fighting to save Migron.

Orlev said that Netanyahu would have nothing to gain by forcing the Jewish Home faction to leave his coalition and showing his determination to destroy Migron.

“It will be very hard for the Prime Minister to claim that the Jewish Home is an extremist party,” he added.

Senior Likud ministers Michael Eitan, Benny Begin and Dan Meridor came out strongly against Orlev’s bill at Sunday morning’s cabinet meeting, calling on Netanyahu to demolish Migron in accordance with the orders of the Supreme Court.

Begin claimed that passage of the bill would ruin the chances of reaching a compromise with the villagers of Migron, according to which they would consent to relocating their homes to recognized site not far from the original one.

The same three ministers last year opposed the establishment of commissions of inquiry into sources of funding for anti-Zionist political organizations now known to be on the payroll of the European Union.

Two of these organizations, Peace Now and Yesh Din, were responsible for initially bringing the case against Migron to the Supreme Court.

Article Published: 15 January 2012

http://www.indynewsisrael.com/netanyahu-prevents-vote-on-migron-law

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

'Palestinians must compensate Migron settlers'

Court accepts withdrawal of civil suit by Palestinians claiming ownership, orders them to compensate settlers and state.

Both settlers and Palestinians were left with a sense of victory Thursday after the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled on a technicality with regard to the Migron outpost.

The court accepted a decision by Palestinians who claim ownership of the Migron land to withdraw a civil suit, which they had first filed in 2008.

It ordered the Palestinians to pay compensation fees of NIS 7,000 to the Migron settlers and NIS 12,000 to the state toward court costs.

Migron’s attorney Amir Fischer claimed the Palestinians withdrew their claim at the moment in the process when they had to provide proof of land ownership.

Their decision to withdraw their civil suits shows that “they lied and have no proof” to back up their claims, he said.

Fischer had argued that the court should not allow the Palestinians to withdraw their suit and should have forced them to prove their claim.

“With this ruling the court allowed the plaintiffs to run away,” he said.

He noted that the court ordered compensation, and the withdrawal itself went a long way to proving the Migron residents’ point that the land belonged to them.

But attorney Shlomy Zachary who represents the Palestinians along with attorney Michael Sfard, on behalf of Yesh Din, said that the opposite was true.

The civil suit was filed when the Palestinians believed the state had no intention of moving against Migron, Zachary said.

When the High Court of Justice this summer ordered the outpost to be removed by the end of March, the Palestinians asked the court to allow their claim to be withdrawn, he said.

The fact that it came at the point in the legal process where proof of ownership was required was coincidental, he said.

Proof of ownership had to be given to the court when the civil suit was first filed, Zachary added.

Both he and Sfard pointed to a critical line in the court’s decision, which stated that: “There is no basis to the claim that the plaintiff’s lack evidence to prove their rights to the land.”

Sfard said he rejected any attempt by the settlers to spin this as a victory.

“It’s part of a [settler] campaign to lay the groundwork for the violation of the High Court of Justice ruling,” he said.

Separate from the civil suit, Migron residents have a suit pending before a district court regarding land ownership of the outpost, which is located in the Binyamin region of the West Bank, just outside of Jerusalem. It is home to 50 families.

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=254390

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

http://www.indynewsisrael.com/netanyahu-prevents-vote-on-migron-law

Hear the sound of the Palestinian state getting bigger and bigger...

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=254390

That report was from a couple days back. Here is the latest switcheroo, and the reason for it:

Israeli settlers reject Netanyahu's request to evacuate largest outpost in West Bank

PM asks Migron settlers to voluntarily evacuate the outpost and receive support to establish a community on nearby state land in return.

The ongoing controversy about the evacuation of the Migron outpost hit a new high Sunday, as settlers angrily rejected a compromise proposal offered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu asked the Migron settlers to voluntarily evacuate the outpost and receive in return support to establish a community on nearby state land. The settlers rejected the proposal and demanded that Netanyahu authorize the Migron outpost's settlement by legislation. They threatened that a Migron evacuation would cost Netanyahu his job, because the national religious public will not tolerate a forcible evacuation of the outpost.

At Sunday's cabinet session, Netanyahu evinced support for the compromise formula forged by Minister Benny Begin. "The High Court of Justice has ruled that Migron must be evacuated by March 31," said Netanyahu. "The government wants to carry out the court's decision, in a fashion that involves consent and is peaceful."

Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that under the compromise formula, a new Migron will be built on state lands on an "authorized, planned basis." It will not be on private Palestinian land.

"The government calls on Migron residents to agree to this proposed compromise, and thereby allow the government to turn soon to the court and ask for this compromise arrangement to be approved," Netanyahu stated. "This is a good proposal which does not solve all the problems, but is sufficiently substantive and can solve the Migron issue."

Netanyahu's comments came a week ahead of Likud primaries, in which he vies against right-wing hawk Moshe Feiglin. Likud regulars have been pressuring Netanyahu, asking that the Migron evacuation be bypassed. Opponents of a Migron evacuation included Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat and Minister Yuli Edelstein. This ministerial trio, along with a number of Likud MKs, entreat Netanyahu to solve the Migron issue via a legislative move that would retroactively authorize the outpost and essentially appropriate the land from Palestinian owners in exchange for a compensation payment.

The government's compromise proposal was first brought to the settlers by Begin a few weeks ago, as Haaretz reported in early January. Under Begin's proposal, the state would establish a new settlement on state-owned land, on the same mountain whose summit currently holds the Migron outpost. After the new settlement's establishment, Migron residents would receive the land without the issuance of a tender offer, and they would build homes out of their own funds.

The proposal borrows heavily from a 2007 Migron proposal offer, under which the state would have removed the outpost to a nearby area. The settlers eventually rejected this compromise formula.

Sunday, Migron settlers rejected the new compromise formula. They demand that the government engage "a real clarification" of the land's status. They say that the land never belonged to Palestinians, and that they have deeds attesting to their own purchase of some of the land. These claims were rejected in the past by the Civil Administration.

Migron settlers add that should it turn out that the land is owned by a Palestinian individual or group, the way to solve the impasse is to provide compensation payments.

The settlers are dissatisfied with Begin's handling of the issue, saying that he never really engaged in a dialogue with them. Instead, the settlers say, Begin basically delivered the proposal formula as a dictate.

Underscoring this discontent, Avi Roeh, head of the Binyamin regional council, sent a public letter to Netanyahu demanding that Begin be relieved of responsibilities for dealing with the Migron issue.

The Begin compromise has over the past month stirred internal disputes among settlers. Members of the Yesha settler council support the compromise. Settlement activist Ze'ev Hever, who supports the compromise, informed government ministers that some of the Migron residents are prepared to evacuate, and predicated that compromise opponents will eventually relent.

On the other hand, Roeh is leading opposition to the compromise, together with Likud activists on the West Bank. These opponents view the Begin proposal as a slippery slope that could lead to the evacuation of other outposts.

In lieu of the Begin compromise, hard-line right-wing activists support a bill proposed by MK Zevulun Orlev, under which, after four years of residence in an outpost established on private land, settlers would be allowed to remain and compensations would be relayed to the owners. Migron settlers relayed Sunday that "for some time we have been proposing an array of compromise solutions that would avoid the destruction of this community, and the removal of more than 50 families. Out of respect for the law and the judicial system, we call for a real dialogue with the prime minister and his advisers, so as to work out solutions that will be acceptable to jurists and the High Court."

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-settlers-reject-netanyahu-s-request-to-evacuate-largest-outpost-in-west-bank-1.408689