Description

A resident of Migron being evacuated from the outpost by security forces, Sept. 2, 2012. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi


Residents of West Bank's largest outpost handed eviction notices in the morning, operation schedule to be complete by end of day; Israel Police promise to evict by force anyone who doesn't leave voluntarily.

By Chaim Levinson for Haaretz
Israeli security forces evacuated the contentious West Bank outpost of Migron, located north of Jerusalem, on Sunday morning. The evacuation, which came after a lengthy legal battle spanning years, took just a few hours to complete.

Judea and Samaria District Police Commander Amos Ya'akov said that the residents complied with evacuation in an honorable manner and without general disruption.

Some 70 activists did try to stop the evacuation, he said, by barricading themselves in houses. A number of those were arrested, he said, adding that security forces were still concerned of a possible backlash from right-wing activists opposed to the evacuation.

By early Sunday morning, security forces were clearing the residents' possessions from their homes.

Police early in the day handed the settlers eviction orders signed by the Israel Defense Force GOC Central Command, Major General Nitzan Alon. The notice warned that the settlers would be evict by force if they refused to comply.

Major General Alon was present on Sunday morning to oversee the evacuation.

After reciting their morning prayers in the outpost's synagogue, Migron residents began preparing to leave their homes. Most of the residents willingly evacuated by late morning.

The residents plan to move into a college in the nearby settlement of Ofra, where they will remain until temporary housing is set up for them.

Several dozen young activists arrived overnight and barricaded themselves inside a building that had already been evacuated by settlers. A contingent of Israeli special police special forces were removing them from the building by force.

The IDF aims to complete the evacuation in its entirety by the end of the day on Sunday; the High Court of Justice ruled last week that settlers have until Tuesday, September 4, to vacate the premises.

In their ruling, the panel of justices, headed by Supreme Court President Asher Grunis and participated by Deputy President Miriam Naor and justice Edna Arbel, effectively rejected the petition by 17 Migron families to stay on the premises, arguing that they had purchased the land on which their homes were built in a legal manner.