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Government submits court request to delay Amona evacuation
The government yesterday submitted a formal request to Israel’s High Court, to postpone by 45 days the court-ordered evacuation of the Amona outpost in the West Bank.
The court had originally ruled that Amona residents must be evicted by 25 December, as the outpost was built illegally on private Palestinian land. However, the government reached an agreement with residents over the weekend which appeared to avert the prospect of a confrontation with authorities.
The plan will see 24 of Amona’s 40 families re-housed on an adjacent plot known as “Parcel 38”, which is classified as “absentee” property, abandoned by unknown landlords before or during Israel’s capture of the West Bank in 1967.
The remainder will be housed in the nearby Ofra settlement until a permanent solution is found. In return, the residents have agreed to peacefully leave their current homes.
In order to implement the agreement, the state yesterday requested a 45-day postponement to the original evacuation date.
The request read: “Given the complexity, sensitivity and explosiveness accompanying evacuation of a settlement of the size of Amona, the state has invested supreme efforts in formulating a solution that will allow peaceful evacuation of the residents, limiting damage to the families.”
However, Israeli NGO Yesh Din, which submitted the original petition for Amona’s evacuation, is contesting both the delay and the re-location of residents to Parcel 38. The organisation released a statement disputing Parcel 38’s status as “absentee property” and claimed that it has proof that “the properties designated by the state to pacify the outlaws of Amona are not abandoned at all”.
It added: “The plots of land have owners, and the state knows this, but chooses to ignore it.”
Amona residents indicated that if the High Court refuses the 45-day extension, that they will consider cancelling the deal with the government which would see them leave peacefully.
Amona spokesman Ofer Inbar said: “If they reject it [the request], we will have to see what to do.”