A-G told IDF to remove remaining Migron homes

Weinstein’s office says police probe had been completed, and “had not provided a breakthrough” on issue of property ownership.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Migron eviction (370) (photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
Migron eviction (370)
(photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
The state should remove the structures that were left intact at the site of the former Migron outpost, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein told the Civil Administration last week according to his office.
The IDF had forcibly evacuated 50 families from the outpost in September, after the High Court of Justice ruled that their homes were built without permits on land classified by the state as belonging to private Palestinians. It also destroyed many of the structures in the Migron outpost, which was located outside of Jerusalem in the Binyamin region.
The High Court, however, allowed the structures on Lot 10 in the outpost to remain intact pending a police investigation into settler claims that they had purchased that lot.
On Sunday, Weinstein’s office told The Jerusalem Post that the police investigation had been completed, and “had not provided a breakthrough” on the issue of property ownership.
It said that Weinstein had therefore asked that the homes be taken down. His office had also asked the Civil Administration to provide the Justice Ministry with an update on the situation within 14 days.
Weinstein’s office added that if Migron residents wanted build legal structures on Lot 10, they were welcome to submit a request to the Civil Administration and go through the proper procedures.
Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, whose organization had filed a petition before the High Court against the outpost, said there were some 10 or 11 buildings now standing on the lot.
News of Weinstein’s decision was first published in Haaretz on Sunday, but official notification of the decision was not given to Migron residents, Peace Now or the Binyamin Regional Council.
Council spokeswoman Tamar Asraf said the council did not want to officially respond until it had been properly notified, but that if the report was correct, then council head Avi Ro’eh would fight the decision.
It was a serious problem, she said, that the council learned about the pending demolition from the media.
Migron residents said they also did not want to respond until they had been officially notified.
Ofran said that Peace Now had written at least once to Weinstein’s office this year, noting that the three-month period set by the court to investigate the matter had passed and asking that the structures on Lot 10 be removed.
The 50 Migron families now live in legal modular homes, on the edge of Route 60 near the Psagot winery, two kilometers away from the site of their former outpost.
According to a 2005 government sponsored report by attorney Talia Sasson, Migron was built in May 2001 with NIS 4.3 million from the Construction and Housing Ministry.