Migron compromise angers settlers

Baruch Marzel's followers, activists plan protests against settler leaders for succumbing to gov't.

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
Marzel 248.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Marzel 248.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Far-right groups vowed Sunday to block a recent compromise deal supported by the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip whereby residents of the unauthorized Migron outpost situated eight kilometers north of Jerusalem will be relocated to a nearby settlement. The accord, worked out in months of negotiations between the council and the Defense Ministry, will see the transfer of some 40 families from the outpost to an area currently under construction in a nearby settlement. The agreement will only be implemented when construction of the new homes is completed. "Until the new site is constructed, we will remain in place," said council spokesman Yishai Hollander. He said the move would be carried out "in the coming years." "In our view, this is the best way to save Migron," Hollander said. But other settlers and far-right groups, long angered by the council's failure to thwart the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip, said Sunday they would protest against the Migron agreement. "Today, we have even more proof of how the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip does not want to fight against the government," said far-right activist Itamar Ben-Gvir. He said that the Jewish Front led by fellow far-right activist Baruch Marzel was mulling a series of demonstrations against the settlement leadership, including blocking the entrance to the homes of senior council officials and bringing thousands of activists to Migron to prevent its evacuation. "We are planning to take off our gloves," Ben-Gvir said.