Migron, Mateh Binyamin

Migron
Hebrew	מגרון
Founded	1999 (re-founded in 2001)
Council	Mateh Binyamin
Coordinates	31°53′23.42″N 35°16′17.01″E
Migron

Migron (Hebrew: מגרון‎) is an unauthorized Israeli outpost in the northern West Bank. Located 14 kilometers north of Jerusalem, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. It is the largest outpost of its kind, with a population of 300. The council says it was founded in 1999 and re-founded in 2001.The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

Geography

Migron nursery school

Migron is located 14 kilometers north of Jerusalem in the northern West Bank, 7.7 km east of the Green line, outside of the Separation Barrier. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. It is situated on a dominant hilltop over Highway 60, the main road that connects the northern West Bank with the southern areas, between the settlement Ofra and the Shaar Binyamin Industrial Park.

Etymology

Migron is named after the village Migron mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Isaiah 10:28 as a village somewhere on the route between Ai and Mikhmas along which the Assyrian army advanced.

History

According to the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, Migron was founded in 1999 and re-established in 2001.Now the largest unauthorized settlement in the West Bank, it has a population of 300 living in 60 mobile homes. On 2 August 2011, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a ruling ordering Migron to be dismantled by April 2012.

According to the Sasson Report, Migron was established in April 2002, a few days before Operation Defensive Shield. A request for a cellular radio tower on the hilltop was granted by Israel Defense Forces although ownership of the land was still in question. Some time later, five caravans were placed near the radio tower. These caravans had no authorization but no order was was given to remove them. According to the report, the infrastructure for Migron was financed by the Housing Ministry at the cost of NIS four million NIS, despite the lack of statutory planning or a cabinet decision approving the construction.

In January 2012, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court accepted the request by Palestinian plaintiffs to withdraw a civil suit filed in 2008 claiming ownership of the land. They were ordered them to compensate Migron residents and the State for court costs. Migron’s attorney Amir Fischer claimed the Palestinians did not provide any evidence that they owned the land and withdrew their claim at the moment in the process when they had to provide proof of land ownership. Both Shlomy Zachary who represents the Palestinians along with attorney Michael Sfard, on behalf of Yesh Din, said that the opposite was true. Zachary said the fact that the withdrawal came at the point in the legal process where proof of ownership was required was coincidental, and both claimed that proof of ownership had already been provided. They cited the Magistrate’s Court's decision, which said "There is no basis to the claim that the plaintiff’s lack evidence to prove their rights to the land" and claimed that the suit was withdrawn because Israel's High Court of Justice had subsequently decided to destroy the outpost. Fischer opposed the permission to withdraw the suit and wanted the court to force the Palestinians to prove their claim.

Migron caravans, 2008

Land ownership

According to the Israeli organisation Peace Now, most of the land Migron sits on is owned by a number of Palestinian families living in the nearby villages of Burqa and Deir Dibwan. In July 2008, additional questions were raised as to the ownership of some of the land that Migron stands on. According to a news report, Abd Allatif Hassan Sumarin, who supposedly sold a plot of land to Binyamin Regional Council owned Al Wattan Ltd in 2004, had been dead since 1961. These suspicions were later confirmed by an Associated Press investigation. According to Arutz Sheva (Israel National News), by Februar 26 2012, not all claims of ownership of the land of Migron are settled. The state of Israel said that "(..) there will be no civilian presence at the present site of Migron until the claims of ownership of the land are all settled. In addition, it insists that all buildings at the site be razed and says that only if it turns out that the land has no private owner can they be rebuilt." The new settlement will be near Yekev (winery) about two kilometers away from Migron, and the families must only move after completion of its construction.

Evacuation orders

Ariel Sharon announced that Migron would be dismantled in 2003. On 17 December 2006, the Israeli government, responding to a petition from Peace Now and residents of Burqa and Deir Dibwan, conceded that the establishment of Migron had not received official authorization. On 12 February 2007, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the government to submit a report within 60 days on steps that would be taken to remove the outpost. On 1 May 2007, the government told the court that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had instructed the Defence Ministry to prepare an evacuation plan within the next two months. A 60-day extension was requested. On 8 July 2007, the government requested a further 90-day extension so that the new Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, could formulate his position on the issue.

On 23 January 2008, the government informed the court that “The Prime Minister and Defense Minister have decided that the outpost Migron, which was constructed on Private Palestinian land, will be evacuated within six months, that is until the beginning of August 2008”. In addition the statement also expresses that the Defense Ministry reserves the right to “request from the Supreme Court an extension on this date, if it deems necessary”. The promise was accepted by the Supreme Court on 6 February 2008. On 13 August 2008, the government declared that the Yesha Council had agreed to decide within 30 days to which location to transfer the outpost, on November 24 2008 the government signed an agreement with the settlers to remove the outpost to the settlement of Geva Binyamin. On November 26, the Supreme Court ordered the government to explain within 45 days why it didn't remove the outpost.

2008 Yom Haatzmaut celebration at Migron

In her summation Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch criticized the State “Today you are submitting papers full of promises, but without any knowledge of who will actually see this through in 3 years time, your statements have turned into meaningless words. In your statements you have revealed some of your secrets: you explain how the evacuation will be carried out, but you never actually say that it will be carried out”. On 2 February 2009 the government responded with the declaration that they intend to construct a new neighbourhood in an existing settlement for the evacuees of the Migron outpost. On 28 June 2009, the government submitted an affidavit to the courts, according to which the Ministry of Defense authorized the construction of a new neighborhood in the existing settlements of Geva Binyamin. The construction would include 50 housing units for the evacuees of Migron and another 1,450 units for new settlers.

Supreme Court ruling

On 2 August 2011, in response to a petition filed by Peace Now along with Palestinians, Israel's Supreme Court issued a ruling ordering the state to dismantle the outpost by April 2012. Supreme Court president Dorit Beinisch wrote: “There is no doubt that according to the law a settlement cannot be built on land privately owned by Palestinians”. It is the first time the Supreme Court has ordered the state to dismantle an outpost in the West Bank. The ruling was denounced by several Members of Knesset, including Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), who called it “hypocritical”, and Moshe Feiglin (Likud), who accused the Supreme Court of denying Jewish land rights. The Yesha Council accused the court of applying a double standard and of needlessly inflaming tensions. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz called the ruling “one of the most serious indictments ever filed against Israel's political establishment, legal system and security apparatus”.

Yesh Din petition

In early September 2011, a force of approximately one thousand police officers destroyed three illegal permanent structures in Migron, arresting six youths among the 200 protesting settlers. The three buildings were ordered to be destroyed by the Supreme Court, following a petition issued by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din. In response to it, it is alleged that settlers set a mosque in the West Bank village of Qusra, south of Nablus, on fire.