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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Israel evicts Amona settlers as 3,000 new homes approved elsewhere | |
| 2017-02-02 | |
Israeli security forces began the long-threatened eviction of hundreds of hardline Jewish settlers from the illegal outpost of Amona on the occupied West Bank, hours after the government said it was approving the construction of thousands more settlement homes elsewhere.
The court-ordered eviction was expected to continue late into the night on Wednesday, as police moved in to drag out hundreds of mainly young supporters from the several dozen prefabricated homes in which they had barricaded themselves. At least 13 police officers were injured in sporadic clashes with the settlers as teenagers set fires, threw objects and scuffled with officers as they swamped the outpost. A bulldozer and water cannon were brought up as residents were told to pack up their belongings. Hours before the operation to seal the outpost of Amona, Israel announced 3,000 new homes in the West Bank settlements. Some 6,000 new settlement homes have been announced since Trump’s inauguration last Friday. Next week, Israel’s parliament is expected to vote on a bill to allow the “legalisation” of a tranche of other illegal outposts built on private Palestinian land. As the police descended on the Amona site, Israel’s far-right education minister, Naftali Bennett, demanded the annexation of the “entire West Bank”. About 250 people in 50 families live in Amona, but in recent weeks dozens more people have arrived to face off against Israeli forces. Residents had said they planned to resist their evacuation peacefully. “This is a dark day for us, for Zionism, for the state and for the great vision of the Jewish people returning to its homeland,” Avichay Buaron, a spokesman for Amona, said as the operation began. Far-right lawmaker Moti Yogev, whose Jewish Home party is part of Israel’s governing coalition, was among those who joined the settlers in a show of solidarity and linked the demolition to the prospect of further construction elsewhere. “Yes, Amona will be destroyed,” he said, “but against Amona we are going to build 3,000 new homes.” Israel’s supreme court ruled in 2014 that Amona was built on private Palestinian land and must be demolished. It has set 8 February as the final date for it to be destroyed. Amona is the largest of around 100 unauthorised outposts erected in the West Bank without permission but generally tolerated by the Israeli government. The outpost, built in the 1990s, stretches out over a rugged, grassy hilltop and looks out across the valley on to Palestinian villages. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |