Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said, Friday, that the state must move "from removal to approval" in the matter of the Ulpana (religious girls' high school) neighborhood in the Binyamin-region Jewish community of Beit El. His call came as the state applied for a 90 day deferral of a Supreme Court order to uproot homes in the neighborhood.

Speaking during a visit to the neighborhood, Shalom said he hopes a legal solution can be found but that approval through legislation is also a viable option. Noting that leaving the neighborhood's residents where they are is a national need, he said, "The matter must be treated as a land disupte, and just as such a dispute would be resolved within the Green Line [the 1949 Armistice Line -ed.], it is out of place to be more stringent in the area of Judea and Samaria, of all places."