BICOM

A ministerial committee decided yesterday that the State Prosecutor’s Office will turn to the High Court of Justice and ask to delay the planned evacuation of several houses in the Ulpana neighbourhood, located near the West Bank settlement of Beit El. In the meantime, a special committee will be established to examine the issue and to negotiate a compromise.

The ministerial committee, established on Sunday, included ministers Ehud Barak, Moshe Ya’alon, Eli Yishai, Benny Begin, Yuval Steinitz, Yisrael Katz, Dan Meridor and Gideon Sa`ar. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein also took part in the first meeting.

The majority of ministers in the committee, including PM Netanyahu and Ya’alon, have stated that the neighbourhood should not be evacuated, whilst Barak has reiterated that the state must raze the unauthorised houses in Ulpana and relocate its residents to an alternative site in Beit El. Netanyahu is under pressure from both his party and coalition to find a solution to the several houses built on private Palestinian land, which are slated for demolition by 1 May. Ya’alon warned Saturday that dismantling of Ulpana would likely cause a political crisis that could bring down the coalition.

Earlier, the ministerial committee decided to legalise the small West Bank outposts of Rechalim, Bruchin and Sansana. “These communities were founded in the 1990s based on the decisions of past governments,” the committee said in a statement. The committee’s decision came just a day after the government authorised it to include these settlements in a new Master Plan and legalise their status. The decision could be interpreted as governmental recognition of new settlements, the first in 20 years – a move that could concern many Western governments.