Netanyahu delays settlers' evacuation

JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday he has ordered a delay in the planned evacuation of Jewish settlers from a building they occupied in the West Bank, putting off a potentially violent standoff with Israeli security forces.

The settlers had been ordered to leave the building in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron by yesterday afternoon. But Netanyahu said he told his defense minister, who oversees policy in the occupied West Bank, to put the evictions on hold while a legal review is conducted.

"I am coordinated with the minister of defense. I asked him last night to wait with the eviction so we could check the facts, both legally and on the ground, and that is what we will do," Netanyahu told a news conference. He gave no indication how long that would take.

The settlers took over the house in Hebron in an overnight operation last week. The military ordered them to leave because they did not have the required permission to move in.

The deadline passed without any action, and the settlers remained inside the building.

The lack of action added new doubts about Netanyahu's government, which is dominated by nationalist and Orthodox Jewish parties, to take on settlers who break the law.

"Netanyahu's apparent support for these settlers' move is another proof that [his] priority is consolidating the occupation rather than negotiating its end," said Palestinian spokesman Ghassan Khatib. "Such attitude and behavior poses a serious challenge that the international community needs to deal with."

Last month, the government tried to bypass an Israeli Supreme Court order to dismantle a large West Bank settler enclave by March 31. The enclave, Migron, was built without government authorization on privately held Palestinian land, in violation of Israeli law. The court rejected a government request to delay the evacuation until 2015, but gave it a four-month extension to work it out. Netanyahu has said he will respect the court decision.

Migron settlers, who zealously believe they have a God-given right to the West Bank, have said they will not go quietly.