BICOM

Israel’s State Prosecutor’s Office on Monday issued its strongest statement to date to the High Court of Justice in favour of evacuating the illegal West Bank outpost of Migron to the schedule previously set by the court.

Last summer the High Court of Justice issued a binding ruling that the outpost must be evacuated because it was built without permits on land classified by the state as belonging to Palestinian owners. Migron is located just outside Jerusalem in the Binyamin region of the West Bank and is home to 50 families.

Last month Migron’s residents claimed they had purchased three plots of land on the outpost. The state’s response Monday followed a petition filed by 17 families – about one-third of the settlement’s residents – that asked the court to permit them to remain in those lots. The state yesterday issued a lengthy response to the petition, in which it laid out its position.

“According to the state’s position, it is not feasible at this time from a legal and technical perspective for the petitioners [outpost residents] to continue living in Migron and for the structures [their homes] to remain where they are,” the State Prosecutor’s Office told the High Court of Justice on Monday.

“There is no legal feasibility for the petitioners’ continued stay in Migron… Honouring and adhering to the court’s ruling in the matter mandates that Migron will be evicted as scheduled,” the State Prosecutor’s Office added.

“All of the structures built in Migron are illegal and have standing razing orders against them for years.” Nevertheless, the state said that the question of the legality of some of the buildings, built on land the settlers claim to have purchased from their Arab owners, is still under review.

The state, therefore, did request a 90-day delay in the evacuation of some of the outpost structures, pending an investigation into the legality of purchase claims by Migron residents.