Will Palestinians pay heavy price for Amona evacuation?
Palestinians fear that Israel will destroy Palestinian homes, lift the construction freeze and resume work on hundreds of new settlement housing units to compensate the settlers for the evacuation of Amona.
The Israeli government returned to the Supreme Court Dec. 11 to request yet again that it postpone the evacuation of the unauthorized outpost of Amona (scheduled for Dec. 25 at the latest) by one month. The court rejected earlier requests, saying that the state had had plenty of time to prepare for and fulfill the court’s ruling made two years ago.
The settlement itself is already preparing for the evacuation. Hundreds of young people arrived there over the weekend, turning the evacuation into a mass event.
“The whole region is seething,” Salim Abu Qas told Al-Monitor. Abu Qas is a resident of the village of Ein Yabrud, right next to Amona. “Hundreds of settlers have been coming here, and we’re concerned.” He said that these days, residents of the nearby Palestinian villages try not to wander around the area too much.
The Palestinians are concerned about more than just violent clashes with settlers preparing for the evacuation. Citing past experience, they anticipate the government taking steps to appease the settlers after the evacuation by starting to demolish Palestinian homes in the West Bank's Area C and in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Qadura Fares, a senior Fatah member in the West Bank, told Al-Monitor that there is a familiar ritual. Whenever there is tension between the settlers and the Israeli authorities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rushes to “compensate” the settlers.
