Makor Rishon daily, which supports Netanyahu, wrote in January.
It is no wonder that some Netanyahu advisors refer to Migron as Migraine.
Treading a delicate path, the prime minister has buried one proposed bill that would have automatically legalised Migron in defiance of the Supreme Court. At the same time, he has appointed a committee to review all illegal outposts.
The committee's findings, though, will arrive after Migron's March deadline passes, meaning Netanyahu must decide who he takes on: the Supreme Court, or the settler wing in his party.
"If the (settlers) win, then the Supreme Court will just be a recommendatory body in the West Bank and the settlers will be able to grab any land they want," said Peace Now's Oppenheimer.
European diplomats in Jerusalem wrote in a recent report that between 2009 and 5 July last year, Israel demolished 1,072 Palestinian structures that they deemed illegal in the West Bank and displaced nearly 2,000 people. These demolitions got a tiny fraction of the media attention devoted to Migron.
The EU report, which was leaked to a handful of media firms, including Reuters, said Jewish settlements combined with the "forced transfer of the native population" were eroding the chances of establishing a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.
Dan Tirza, a map specialist who served on Israeli peace negotiating teams for more than two decades, said that fear was misplaced. "There still is no problem to come up with a map one can live with," he said.
The Palestinians withdrew from U.S.-backed peace talks in 2010, saying Israel must suspend all settlement building as a pre-condition for negotiations. Israel rejects that demand.
Tirza, who has advised Netanyahu, said the best way for the Palestinians to stop the construction was to return to talks.
"Israel has committed time and again that as soon as there is an agreed border, it will remove all the settlers left in the Palestinian territory," Tirza said, "Evacuating the settlements is not the Palestinians' problem, it is Israel's problem."
Sitting in a two-room trailer as their young children played, Shitrit said his Migron friends were united in their determination to stay on top of the hill.
"We're not gladiators here. We don't want destruction, we want to sit down, talk and solve the problem," he said. (Edited by Simon Robinson and Sara Ledwith)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
