January 3, 2012

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Supreme Court gave the government a week to report back on agreements reached on construction in outposts built on state land.

Tuesday’s order came in response to the agreement struck between the state and the Ramat Gilad outpost in the northern West Bank. Under the agreement, the outpost would become part of the Karnei Shomron municipality, and five of its 10 caravans and several warehouses would be relocated to areas on the hill that are not considered private Palestinian property.

The parts of the outpost on private land had been scheduled to be razed by the end of 2011 by order of the Supreme Court.

The court granted the state’s request for an extension on razing several outposts, saying it wanted the issue to be resolved peacefully, according to Ynet. But the justices noted that the matter could not be put off indefinitely.

Meanwhile, a Knesset committee on Monday postponed debate on a bill that would require a Palestinian claiming ownership of land on which an outpost was to be built to prove his claim in court.

The bill had been dubbed the Migron bill, an effort to prevent the razing of the controversial Migron outpost. The Supreme Court has ordered the demolition of Migron by March.

The debate in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation has been postponed by three months, past the deadline for saving Migron.
 

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