Negotiations between the state and settler representatives geared at securing a deal concerning the evacuation of the Migron outpost in the West Bank, Haaretz learned on Monday, after settlers rejected a government deal.
The sides were reportedly close to an agreement after the government allegedly proposed moving the outpost to a nearby plot owned by the state, with officials indicating that it would mull whether or not is was possible to keep the outposts' original houses standing.
However, counter to reports of a possible deal, the gap between the sides remained significant, specifically concerning the number of structures that would escape demolition.
In addition, the state reportedly put forth a new demand to evacuate the outpost in two years and a half, even if the permanent structures built to house those evacuated won't be finished.
On Monday, however, it was revealed that settler representatives, after consulting national-Zionist rabbis, decided to reject to the forming deal on Migron, which a Supreme Court ruling states must be evacuated by March 31.
The state's negotiator in talks, Minister Benny Begin, is due to give a statement concerning the West Bank outpost later Monday.
Earlier this month, the government rejected claims by Migron residents that they had reached an agreement with the state allowing them to stay put for two more years, despite Supreme Court orders to evacuate them next month.
"There is no agreement in Migron," Begin, told Likud MKs at the time.
Avi Roeh, who heads the Mateh Binyamin local council, sent Begin a letter on the settlers' behalf Sunday night in which he outlined the details of the purported agreement.
The letter said the Migron residents would stay put until a new neighborhood near Migron was built for them on state land, within two and a half years. It also said the state would examine the possibility of leaving a civilian or military presence in Migron and that any demolition of the existing buildings would be postponed pending a district court decision on Migron residents' suit claiming they own the land on which the outpost is built.