BICOM

Residents of the West Bank outpost of Amona were given 48 hours to leave their homes by military order yesterday, ahead of the evacuation which took place this morning.

Having issued the 48-hour order, the IDF closed the two access roads to Amona, in an attempt to prevent supporters of the residents entering and complicating the evacuation. However, Israel Radio and Haaretz both reported that hundreds of teenagers reached Amona by yesterday evening. Haaretz said that although the protestors have been asked to avoid violence, they will “ensure that the evacuation would be very hard”.

Some 3,000 Israeli police and Border Police officers are reportedly set to remove around 40 families from their homes. The IDF is reported to have placed eight battalions in the area to deal with any potential violence with local Palestinians.

In December, the High Court granted a “last, final extension” to evacuate Amona’s residents by 8 February. The court has already ruled that the outpost was built illegally on private Palestinian land and must be evacuated.

Following the 8 February deadline decision, an agreement was reached between the government and residents, to relocate many of them to an adjacent plot known as “Parcel 38”. However, the deal has been thrown into doubt with the court yet to rule on a challenge that the land is not “absentee property” but privately owned.

Also yesterday, the Defence Ministry approved the construction of 3,000 housing units in the West Bank, with the permission of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

In a statement, Lieberman said: “We are in a new period in which life in Judea and Samaria [West Bank] are back on track.”

Although some of the approved new housing is located in larger settlement blocs which Israel envisages remaining under its sovereignty in any future peace deal, many of the planned homes are not.