JERUSALEM — The Israeli Supreme Court on Sunday rejected the state’s request to postpone dismantling a large, unsanctioned West Bank settler enclave until late 2015, dealing a serious blow to settler hopes to keep dozens of rogue outposts standing.
The ruling could ignite a violent showdown with settlers, who have vowed in the past to not abandon their hilltop stronghold, Migron. Settler leader Shimon Riklin, one of the enclave’s founders, told Israel’s Channel 2 TV that the evacuation of Migron “would not pass quietly.”
A spokesman for the Palestinians, who claim all of the West Bank as part of a future state, was skeptical that the ruling would be carried out.
The state submitted the delay petition this month, seeking to bypass the high court’s earlier order to dismantle the Migron outpost by March 31 because it was built on privately held Palestinian land.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambled to find a solution that would satisfy settlers and the court. Earlier this month, it asked the court to let Migron’s settlers stay until new homes were built for them on a nearby West Bank hilltop by November 2015.
On Sunday, the court ruled that accepting the state’s agreement would be tantamount to flouting the rule of law.
“The obligation to fulfill the (earlier) ruling is not a matter of choice,” the court said.
Even so, it extended the evacuation deadline to Aug. 1.
In a text message to reporters, Netanyahu said the government “respects the court’s rulings and operates according to Israel’s laws.”
Some hard-line lawmakers said they would push legislation to skirt the ruling. Earlier attempts to legislate around the evacuation order have foundered.
Ultranationalists began settling Migron more than a decade ago on a wind-swept West Bank hilltop about 10 miles north of Jerusalem.
The government says the settlers took over the territory unlawfully in 2001. Settlers claim Arab plaintiffs haven’t proved ownership of the land and note that government officials helped them to set up their outpost, even though it wasn’t officially sanctioned.
“The residents of Migron received today the harsh court ruling, which is based on the false claim of privately held land, and whose objective is the expulsion of peace-loving people,” said Migron spokesman Itai Chemo.
He would not say whether Migron residents would resist a forced evacuation. Settlers believe it is their religious duty to settle this patch of the biblical land of Israel and remain there.
Jewish settlers began setting up more than 100 outposts without government approval in the 1990s, after Israeli governments pledged not to build new settlements. Israel promised the U.S. more than a decade ago to dismantle two dozen outposts built after 2001, including Migron.
