Reporting from Jerusalem—
With negotiations apparently at an impasse, the Israeli government launched a last-ditch effort Monday to avoid a confrontation over the court-ordered evacuation of Jewish settlers living in the West Bank outpost of Migron.
Lawmaker Benny Begin, who has been leading government efforts to resolve the issue, held a news conference to urge the families to accept an offer to relocate them.
"After long months of talks, my hope is that the residents of Migron will agree to what is proposed so that we can put the final touches on the wording in the next day or two and approach the court," Begin said.
Supporters of the settlers protested outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence, demanding that he intervene to settle the issue.
Last year, citing numerous delays and broken promises, Israel's Supreme Court ordered the dismantling of Migron and its 60 temporary structures by March 31. Courts and the government determined that the outpost was built largely on private Palestinian land.
Though most of the international community views all Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal, the Israeli government makes a distinction between settlements it has authorized and those, like Migron and several dozen others, that were built without permission. Migron is the largest of that latter group.
Migron settlers have questioned the authority of the high court and vowed to forcibly resist any attempt by the army to take down their homes.
For months, the government has been working on a compromise under which Migron settlers would be moved to a plot of land about a mile away, also in the West Bank but not privately owned.
Under that proposal, the relocation would not need to occur until November 2015, allowing time for construction on the new land.
Negotiations stalled over what would happen to the vacated structures. Settlers wanted assurances that the buildings would not be destroyed.
The government appears to be hoping that a voluntary relocation would allow it to avoid a messy eviction.
Critics say relocating the outpost to nearby land is not an adequate solution and that the government is merely seeking to delay enforcing the court order.
"The case is finished," said Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement group that brought a lawsuit to force the dismantling of Migron. "You can't appeal. Essentially they would be asking the court to cancel its ruling. This is just another way to postpone the eviction and is a slap in the face to efforts to reach a peace agreement."
To avoid similar standoffs in the future, the government is considering ways to retroactively authorize other illegal settlements.
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