Responding to the Supreme Court and the radical Peace Now group, the Prime Minister and Defense Minister said that the 43 families currently living in Migron, north of Jerusalem, would be evicted by this coming August.
Migron (Samuel I 14,2; Isaiah 10, 28) is a strategically critical hilltop community north of Jerusalem, overlooking the Jerusalem-Shomron highway. It grew very quickly following its founding in March 2002, swelling to 40 families within less than a year and a half - but the government then clamped down, and barely a single new caravan (trailer home) has been allowed in since then. Migron, as well as 25 other outposts in Yesha (Judea and Samaria), is considered "unauthorized" outpost because they were built after March 1, 2001 - the date ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised U.S. President George Bush that no new communities would be built.
Some of the land in Migron was clearly purchased by Jews, but the Supreme Court has been asked by Peace Now to rule that other parts of the community are situated on private, Arab-owned land - and to order the destruction of the entire community. Peace Now's objective is to ensure the erasure of all vestiges of Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.
Destroying Migron Would Lead to Violence
It is widely assumed that a dismantling of Migron would not go over without an Amona-style fight. Two years ago, the new Olmert government decided to go ahead with the eviction of nine Jewish families from their homes in Amona, a hilltop community overlooking Ofrah (and six miles directly north of Migron). What developed was an extremely violent clash between police/army forces and many hundreds of Land of Israel supporters who came to protest the government's decision. Hundreds of the latter were injured, many of them seriously, in extreme cases of police violence, many of which were documented on film.
Seeking Voluntary Transfer
Olmert and Barak, in their response to the Court, added that they would try, during the coming six months, to come to an agreement with the residents and find an agreed-upon alternative site for them to live. The new site must be legally approved and with ready infrastructures, the State's response stipulates.
It was also said that if genuine steps were taken during the six months towards voluntary evacuation from Migron, "the State reserves the right to request another extension for the evacuation of the outpost in order to enable the completion of the evacuation procedure."