Nat’l Union head to ask Knesset to help stop outpost razing

MK Ya’acov Katz accuses Netanyahu of delaying debate on outpost bill to allow for the demolition of the Migron outpost.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
yaacov katz 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
yaacov katz 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
National Union Party head, MK Ya’acov Katz, plans on Wednesday to ask the Knesset plenum to help stop the demolition of West Bank outpost homes.
The move comes after the Ministerial Legislative Committee on Sunday delayed by three months a debate on a bill that would make such demolitions more difficult.
The bill would require Palestinians to prove in a court hearing that they own the land an outpost home is built on before the IDF could raze the structure.
Such a private member’s bill must pass a preliminary reading and three additional readings before it can become law.
Settlers have long complained that the High Court of Justice has accepted state classification of land as belonging to private Palestinian citizens, even when the issue was not fully adjudicated in a land court.
But on Sunday, at a Likud ministerial committee, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked politicians not to approve the bill at this time.
In the past few weeks the Legislative Ministerial Committee has either rejected or delayed debate on multiple bills aimed at preventing the demolition of outpost homes.
The flurry of legislation came in the aftermath of pledges the state made to the High Court of Justice to remove the Givat Assaf, Ulpana and Migron outposts in 2012.
Katz accused Netanyahu of delaying debate on the legislation to allow for the demolition of the Migron outpost, which is slated for March.
“It is for this reason,” he said, “that I have turned to the Knesset.”
Dani Dayan, who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip said the Ministerial Legislative Committee had acted irresponsibly.
“This legislation which strengthens the rule of law and order should have been supported. The current judicial situation is absurd and intolerable,” Dayan said.
But Peace Now Executive- Director Yariv Oppenheimer applauded the Ministerial Committee’s decision.
“Even the prime minister understands that the evacuation of Migron is a basic requirement for a law-abiding nation,” he said.
“Any legislative attempt to authorize theft will be shattered by Israel’s desire to remain a democracy.”