BICOM

Israeli government officials on Monday increased pressure on residents of Migron, an unauthorised West Bank settlement outpost, to accept an agreement for their voluntary relocation. Negotiations hit an impasse in recent days over what would happen to the vacated structures. Settlers wanted assurances that the buildings would not be destroyed.

Minister Benny Begin, who has been leading government efforts to resolve the issue, held a news conference to urge the families to accept an offer to relocate them. “After long months of talks, my hope is that the residents of Migron will agree to what is proposed so that we can put the final touches on the wording in the next day or two and approach the court,” Begin said. Begin said the outpost would be evacuated by the end of March if the residents did not accept a deal.

Last year Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the dismantling of Migron and its 60 temporary structures by 31 March 2012. The court determined that the outpost was built largely on privately owned Palestinian land. For months, the government has been working on a compromise under which Migron settlers would be moved to a plot of land about a mile away, also in the West Bank but not privately owned. Under the new proposal, the relocation would not need to occur until November 2015, allowing time for construction on the new land.

In related news, Security forces evacuated the Oz Zion outpost in the Binyamin region of the West Bank early Tuesday morning, Army Radio reported.