BICOM

According to a report in Haaretz, talks are underway between a group of right-wing activists and representatives of the attorney general’s office and the Prime Minister’s Office, in an effort to reach an agreement over the apartment buildings in Beit El’s Ulpana Hill neighbourhood.

According to the outline of the agreement, the buildings will not be demolished. In exchange, the residents will agree to leave peacefully. Among the representatives at the talks are Yesha Council of settlements head Dani Dayan and MK Yaakov Katz ‏(National Union).  Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and cabinet secretary Zvi Hauser are representing the government in the talks.

“The hope is that the residents will be able to return, after an agreement is made with the owner of the land, of course,” an individual involved in the talks told Haaretz.

Yesterday, the government announced that it plans to legalise 13 of the 18 settlement outposts against which petitions to the High Court of Justice have been filed. As the 13 outposts are not built on privately-owned Palestinian land, the government has more legal tools to regulate them and ensure they are brought under the law.

The remaining five outposts cannot be legalised, because, as they are located on privately-owned Palestinian land. According to a High court ruling, they are slated for evacuation. The first outpost to be evacuated will be the Ulpana Hill neighbourhood, which the court has ordered dismantled by 1 July. Next in line is Migron, an outpost near Ramallah, which must be dismantled by 1 August.