Migron neighbors tell outpost to resist expulsion

Givat Assaf residents call on Migron outpost to resist High Court mandate to evacuate homes, say move will set bad precedent.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Migron outpost 370 (photo credit: Reuters)
Migron outpost 370
(photo credit: Reuters)
Givat Assaf outpost residents this week called on 17 families in the nearby Migron outpost to resist a High Court of Justice mandate that they must leave their homes by August 28.
"We the Givat Assaf residents, together with the nation of Israel will stand by your side,” they said in a letter they sent to Migron residents, which was leaked to the media Thursday.
The outposts are located near each other, in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. “With Gods help, "we will be strong and be strengthened for our nation and for God's cities," they said in the letter.
In the document they made a distinction between the status of the other 33 families who live in the outpost, and a group of 17 who claim to have purchased the property on which their homes are located.
The High Court of Justice has ordered the state to evacuate the 50 outpost families next week, because their homes were built without permits on private Palestinian property.
Last month 17 Migron families petitioned the court to annul that verdict in their case, given that they have since bought the property, on which their 17 homes are located, from its Palestinian owners.
In their letter they noted that Migron families have bravely fought for the right of Jews to remain in their homes in Judea and Samaria for four years.
They said they had respected the right of the families to make an agreement with the government to relocate to a modular site by the Psagot winery, two kilometers away. They added that they had kept silent even when the state broke many aspects of the agreement, including the time line and an informal pledge that the structures would remain on the site.
But the moment the state responded to the court saying that the residents had to leave even if their land was legally purchase, the situation changed significantly, the Givat Assaf residents said.
They noted that this state document set a precedent that did not bode well for future cases in which disputed land is purchased in Judea and Samaria.
The Givat Assaf outpost located off Route 60, a short distance away from Migron, was also built without permits on land classified by the state as belonging to private Palestinians.
The 25 Givat Assaf families are also fighting a legal battle to remain in their homes.
Migron families have not commented on whether they plan to honor their agreement with the state to voluntarily relocate.
Despite legal documents, which state that they must leave by the 28th, it is their understanding that they can remain in their homes until a hearing on the matter is held that day.
At present, there are no known relocation plans to the new modular site.