Migron Settlement Ordered Dismantled

The Israeli Supreme Court has ordered that the Migron settlement in the West Bank be dismantled by April 2012. This is interesting, though it is also a dance we've seen before. Indeed, part of the reason the Court is so upset with the Israeli government is that they've promised to take down Migron before and have yet to do so (indeed, the settlement has expanded). Their earlier reticence, of course, makes it more difficult to take it down now -- an argument the Court was appropriately unsympathetic to.

Migron is one of those settlements without even a figleaf to hide behind. It's unauthorized by the Israeli government. It's very close to Ramallah, making it an unlikely candidate for eventually being absorbed into Israel as part of a land swap deal. And, most importantly, it's built on privately-owned Palestinian land (making it nothing more than a blatant theft).

This does, apparently, mark the first time the Court has directly ordered a specific settlement dismantled. So it will be interesting to see how the government responds (the settler leaders themselves are expected to pitch a fit). Various Likud hardliners are already speaking out against the decision.