State moves on compensation for Amona residents as evacuation looms

Each family in outpost will receive around NIS 500,000, depending on value of property, Channel 2 reports

By ToI Staff 10 December 2016, 7:07 pm

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Young settlers play basketball in the illegal outpost of Amona on December 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

The government is expected to approve a compensation package for residents of the illegal West Bank outpost of Amona, which the High Court has ordered to be demolished by December 25.

Every family that is evacuated from the outpost, which is built on private Palestinian land, will receive monetary compensation of approximately NIS 500,000 ($130,000), depending on the estimated value of the evacuated property, Channel 2 television reported.

The government’s decision on remuneration comes after the so-called Regulation Bill, which seeks to legalize settlements built on Palestinian land, this week passed a preliminary vote in the Knesset without a clause that would also ensure recognition for Amona and effectively overturn the court ruling on its demolition.

On Thursday, dozens of Amona’s approximately 300 residents protested outside the High Court, calling for an end to its “dictatorship.”

The head of the pro-settlement Jewish Home party, Education Minister Naftali Bennett has asked Amona residents not to resist evacuating forces, but the government still fears that the process may not go smoothly.

On Thursday, Amona residents sent out a message to local settlers saying the evacuation was likely to take place on Saturday night, after Shabbat, and called on them to help resist the evacuation. Sources close to the prime minister, however, said Friday that the evacuation would not take place Saturday night.

Attorneys for the government are expected on Sunday to ask the High Court for a one-month delay in the evacuation of the outpost, Israel Radio reported Friday.

The case has come before the High Court repeatedly over the past 15 years. In December 2014, after multiple appeals and delays, the court ordered that the outpost be evacuated within two years, or no later than December 25. It has already rejected a petition to postpone the dismantling of the settlement by eight months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that a delay of the evacuation is needed to prepare temporary housing solutions for some 40 families that will be removed from their homes in the demolition.