Attorneys for the state are expected to appeal to the High Court of Justice on Sunday, asking once more for a one month delay in the evacuation of families from their homes in the Jewish community of Amona, Israel Radio reported Friday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the delay is necessary to prepare temporary housing solutions for some of the 300 residents whose homes are to be demolished.
As it stands right now, the residents are slated to be expelled from their homes on December 25, if not before.
In 2006, residents and surrounding Israelis who stood in solidarity together with their neighbors fought against the evacuation when fewer than a dozen homes and structures were forcibly demolished in the same community. That expulsion swiftly became the most viciously conducted operation against Jews ever carried out by Israeli government forces in the history of the state. Both protesters and police were badly injured, with security horses used to trample some of those who were resisting evacuation, and batons used to batter and beat others. A number of people were permanently disabled; others were deeply traumatized.
The violence that took place was such that lawmakers and locals have never forgotten; the memory of “Amona” is seared into the consciousness of every Israeli who lives in Judea and Samaria.
Pro-“settler” Jewish Home party chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett has asked residents not to resist forces who come to evacuate them from their homes when the time comes.
But a growing number of IDF and Border Guard Police forces are also asking not to be involved in the evacuation process when the time comes to take Jewish residents from their homes.
The Hebrew-language 0404 website featured another handwritten letter alleged to be from one of the units Saturday evening, requesting not to be ordered to participate in the expulsion of Amona.
According to a report broadcast Saturday night by Channel 2 television news, each family evacuated from the community will receive financial compensation of approximately NIS 500,000 ($130,000), depending on the estimated value of their property.
The expulsion is due to an order by the Supreme Court, which in 2014 decided in favor of a petition by leftist groups working together with the Palestinian Authority, who claimed a portion of the community was built on privately-owned land that belonged to individual PA citizens.