AG weighs savings six settler outpost homes

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit is considering a proposal to save six settler homes in the Netiv Ha’avot outpost that are among 15 structures slated for demotion in March.The six structures are partially built on state land and partially on private Palestinian property.Last month, the High Court of Justice rejected a settler petition that sought to save the portions of the structures on state land.In 2016, in response to a petition from Peace Now, it had ruled that the 15 structures were illegally built on private Palestinian property and must be destroyed.Mandelblit’s office said on Tuesday it was considering issuing temporary building permits for the sections of the homes on state land.“This will prevent the complete demolition of these structures,” Mandelblit’s office said, adding that the proposal also would need the approval of the High Court of Justice.Mandelblit is expected to issue a final decision on the matter soon, his office said.The state has said it intended to authorize the outpost built in February 2001 and which was presumed to be on state land, but a 2014 land survey discovered that 15 of the structures were on private Palestinian property.The Netiv Ha’avot families cautiously welcomed the attorney- general’s efforts, but noted that they came fairly late in the game.“It is just a drop in the ocean,” they said.They pointed to a Mandelblit decision that a road to the Harsha outpost could be legalized, even though it was on private Palestinian property, as an example of the kind of legal thinking that could have saved all 15 homes.“If our appeals had been advanced according to the precedent of the Harsha ruling, there would be no need to destroy [any of the] homes or to saw off part of them, and the future threat [of demolitions] would be eliminated,” they said.The families called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to authorize the outpost and asked the public to come protest the demolition of a carpenter shop at the outpost, which is scheduled to take place in the coming days.Netiv Ha’avot, which was built with NIS 300,000 from the Construction and Housing Ministry, is located on the edge of the Elazar settlement in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank.