Israeli settlers must leave Migron: court

30 Aug 2012, 7:55 am   -   Source: AAP

An Israeli court has ordered that Jewish settlers must leave the unauthorised West Bank settlement of Migron.

Israel's supreme court has ordered the evacuation of an unauthorised settlement outpost in the West Bank.

Migron was built in 2001, without permits, just north of Jerusalem. It has since become one of the largest unauthorised outposts in the occupied territory.

The court in Jerusalem ordered all 50 Jewish families to leave by Tuesday, Israel Radio has reported.

All its buildings must be demolished by September 11, except for one lot, which settlers say they bought from Palestinian owners.

Last month, 17 Migron families petitioned the court to be allowed to stay.

The centre-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered the settlers alternative housing on a site about two kilometres away.

Settler leaders and ultra-nationalist MPs reacted furiously to the ruling, with one of them, Aryeh Eldad of the small National Union faction, calling the court "left-wing" and telling reporters he hoped scores of ultra-nationalist activists would flock to the outpost to prevent "the miscarriage of justice".

But Peace Now, the Israeli settlement watchdog, welcomed it as a "victory of the rule of law" and a "ray of light for Israeli society".

International law regards all settlements as illegal because they are built on occupied land. Israeli law, however, regards only outposts built without government authorisation, often on land owned by private Palestinians, as illegal.

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