Israel finally evicts illegal settlement

The case had become a rallying cry for hard-line settler groups opposed to any withdrawal from occupied land claimed by the Palestinians.

But, by midday, all of Migron's 300 residents had left, two days before a court-ordered deadline to clear out.

Most of Migron's residents left voluntarily but officers had to drag out a few youths who holed themselves up in an evacuated trailer.

Altogether, police arrested eight youths, all of them non-residents who came to Migron to protest against the eviction.

Several thousand Israelis now live on occupied lands in dozens of unauthorised West Bank settlements.

Israel has repeatedly promised to remove these outposts but in reality has taken very little action.

In many cases, officials have even been complicit, hooking up outposts to the power grid and providing access roads.

Built in 2001, Migron has been seen as a symbol of the government's refusal to confront the powerful settler lobby.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the outpost was built on Palestinian land and must be dismantled but petitions by the government and settlers delayed the inevitable until today.

Migron settler spokesman Itai Hemo vowed that Migron's evacuation would lead to two new settlements.

However, anti-settlement activist Hagit Ofran of the Peace Now group said that settlers were "used to putting facts on the ground which become Israeli policy. We have proved that they are not above the law."

foreigneditor@peoples-press.com