Givat Synagogue to Be 'Torn Down' Brick by Brick' and Rebuilt

The art of compromise has allowed Israel to uphold a controversial Supreme Court decision to demolish a synagogue but without using bulldozers.

The Ayelet HaShachar synagogue in the Givat Ze'ev community, located west of Jerusalem but on land in Samaria that the Supreme Court ruled is owned by Palestinian Authority Arabs, will be torn down piece by piece and rebuilt nearby.

The court had ordered that it be demolished, but executing the decision has been delayed by appeals from worshippers and warnings by Israeli security officials that bulldozing the house of worship would encourage more terror.

Dozens of Givat Ze'ev residents last week barricaded themselves in the synagogue and vowed to die with the death of the 20-year-old structure.

The guillotine was to fall this week with bulldozers razing the synagogue, but a compromise was worked out Sunday and coordinated by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, several Cabinet ministers and Ayelet HaShachar congregants.

The building will be torn down carefully and re-erected within several months on an adjacent playground, land whose ownership is not in question.

In the meantime, worshippers will pray in a temporary structure.