Adam settlers: No talk of Migron outpost moving there

Council head: All we've heard is rumors, leadership is looking into claims.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
settlement 88 (photo credit: )
settlement 88
(photo credit: )
Members of the Adam settlement north of Jerusalem have heard rumors that the government is trying to move the Migron outpost to their community, but no one has spoken with them regarding the matter, its leadership told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. Last week, right-wing activists distributed leaflets accusing the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip of pushing forward a deal by which the 45 families at Migron, one of the largest of the 105 unauthorized West Bank outposts, would be moved to the nearby Adam settlement, which has about 2,500 inhabitants. "We've heard rumors," Adam council head Nissim Dahan said. "I tried to check them out. I spoke with the head of the [Binyamin Regional Council, Avi Ro'eh], and he doesn't know anything. No one has spoken with us." It would not be possible to move families from Migron to Adam, also known as Geva Binyamin, without first obtaining his community's permission, Dahan said. Dahan said he supported the continued existence of the Migron outpost, adding, "But if, God forbid, they are evacuated and turn to us for help, I would welcome them here, they are our brothers." But Navon Bar, a member of the Adam secretariat, told the Post he didn't believe the Adam settlement would support the relocation of the modern Orthodox Migron outpost to its community. Three years ago, the secular settlement agreed to accept a group of haredi families, Bar said. But the two communities have not integrated well, he added. Adam is happy to welcome individual families, but is unlikely to take a cohesive group, particularly one that is so different from the families who already live there, Bar said. "We came to the settlement for the quality of life and not for ideological reasons," he said. "We do not want to paint ourselves one way or the other." Ro'eh could not be reached for comment. Dani Dayan, the chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, publicly pledged last week that Migron was there to stay and would one day become a full-fledged settlement. He made his remarks despite ongoing talks with the Defense Ministry to seek a solution to the issue of the 105 unauthorized outposts, which must be removed, according to the road map peace plan. The High Court of Justice has delayed issuing a removal order for Migron until August in the hope that the 45 families who live there will agree to leave for an alternate, legal site. Migron spokesman Gideon Rosenfeld said the community was not interested in leaving. Meanwhile, Ma'aleh Adumim Benny Kashriel has removed the temporary caravan he placed on the undeveloped area of his community, known as E-1. Kashriel held office hours there last week instead of in the municipality building to protest the government's refusal to allow him to build in E-1. The Palestinians and the US have said construction there would harm the contiguity of a future Palestinian state. Kashriel told the Post he moved the caravan because the Defense Ministry permit for the structure had expired, but that he was planning further moves to lobby for E-1 construction.