Shragai - Ulpana is just the start

Nadav Shragai..
Israel Hayom..
03 June '12..

A mistake. A serious mistake. Evacuating the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El is just the beginning. First Migron will be evacuated, then exactly the same situation will repeat itself in the 12-year-old outpost Givat Assaf, and after that 20-year-old Amona will be next in line.

And those examples are just the beginning. Left-wing organizations have many more High Court petitions up their sleeves that apply to much larger neighborhoods and entire settlements that are said to be built on "private land." The Civil Administration has counted more than 1,100 such homes, but the Left is convinced they number in the many thousands.

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not put an end to this now, he will find himself — by choice or not — gradually implementing a "mini-disengagement."

The solution to the Ulpana problem cannot be localized. The problem is systemic and extensive, and the solution must be as well. The so-called High Court bypass bill, which seeks to authorize structures built on private land retroactively if the owner does not claim it within four years of the buildings' creation, could provide a solution.


The proposed legislation, on which the Knesset is due to vote this Wednesday, is moral, logical and Zionist. Yes, Zionist, because settling in Judea and Samaria is just as Zionist as settling in the Galilee. It is moral because the Palestinians will have to prove ownership of the land, and if they do, they will receive full compensation. It is logical because most cases involve rugged, abandoned land whose "owners" never knew about and never thought to build on.

The Left is trying to destroy the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria and to de-legitimize it, and it is using the High Court of Justice to do so. But the public elected this government and this prime minister — not to give in to this obvious reality but to change it. If Netanyahu allows Likud ministers and MKs to vote according to their conscience this week, the bill will pass into law. It will also put the brakes on the growing snowball threatening the future of settlements in Judea and Samaria.

Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=1991

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