The government “celebrated” the 10th anniversary of the expulsion of Jews from Gaza and four Shomron communities early Tuesday morning by staging a pre-emptive sweep on hundreds of protesters who had barred themselves up in two buildings slated for demolition Thursday.
The High Court has ordered the destruction of the “Dreinoff” housing project, named after their developer, after accepting Arab and leftists’ petitions that they were erected without permits.
The court’s decision overruled the Civil Administration’s retroactive approval of the building project.
Tuesday morning’s clash was a duplicate of the expulsion 10 years and two days ago and again a year later in Amona.
Black-clad police along with Border Police used riot dispersing methods, including pepper spray, to easily but violently overcome the protesters, mostly youth, and took over the building.
More than 50 demonstrators were detained.
The military explained:
In accordance with the High Court of Justice ruling and with the goal of preparing for the evacuation and demolition of the skeleton of the ‘ Dreinoff ‘ buildings in the community of Beit El, the decision was made to deploy a Border Police force in the complex earlier this morning.
In order to prevent [settlers] from barricading themselves in the buildings and thus reduce the tension and violence in the area so as to enable the demolition to proceed as planned, a Border Police force was placed in the building.
Knesset Member Moti Yogev, whose arm was broken in the brutal police violence at Amona nine years ago, warned that the “if the Dreinoff buildings will be demolished, the court will remain in Israel but it is not certain that there will be a government,” meaning that he might urge the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party to tear down the coalition.
Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel also warned that the government is in danger and accused Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon of breaking his promise the day before that police would not pounce on the protesters.
“Been there, done that.”
The same promise was made by then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak several years ago hours before he ordered the police to violently remove Jews from a building in Hebron. Eventually, the courts accepted appeals from Jews that the building was legally purchased
The Beit El Regional Council is planning to appeal to the High Court this week to cancel the planned demolition.
Below are four videos and three Tazpit News Agency photos of the clashes that began before dawn Tuesday, They are more suitable for viewing on Tisha B’Av.