With clock ticking, state asks High Court to delay Amona evacuation

The government officially asked the High Court of Justice for a one-month delay in the evacuation of the Amona on Tuesday evening, two days after it promised residents of the West Bank outpost to do so as part of a deal for them leave peacefully.

The state asked the court for a 45-day delay of the evacuation, which currently has to be carried out by Saturday, in order to prepare temporary housing solutions for the families slated to be evicted, according to a statement from the State Attorney’s office.

Residents of Amona voted Sunday to accept a proposal that would see 24 of the 41 families moved to an adjacent plot of land while the government worked towards building permanent homes for all residents and creating a new settlement in the area.

But the state would not request a further delay even if the preparations for temporary homes were not completed, the statement read.

If the request is accepted by the court, the new final date for the evacuation would be February 8, 2017.

Amona is the largest of about 100 unauthorized outposts — erected without permission but generally tolerated by the government — that dot the West Bank. In December 2014, after multiple appeals and delays, the court accepted the claim that the settlement was built on privately-owned Palestinian land and ordered the outpost be evacuated within two years, or no later than December 25 of this year.

While the court has already rejected a petition to postpone the dismantling of the settlement, the state hopes the court will accept the new petition based on the residents’ agreement to leave peacefully and the relatively shorter delay — the previous request was for eight months.

“We are talking about a concrete request that would allow the willing and peaceful evacuation of Amona’s residents in a way that would drastically limit the possible damaging consequences of the event while providing an appropriate solution tot he families living there,” the 76-page request states.

Authorities are hoping the deal can avoid a repeat of the violence that followed the destruction of several permanent buildings in the outpost in 2006.

But presenting the petition just four days before until the current deadline for the court-imposed evacuation could be “problematic,” leaving judges with little time to properly consider the request, a spokesperson for the court told The Times of Israel earlier Tuesday.

“It’s problematic because we are now expected to give an immediate response but not everyone will be available to give a response today or even tomorrow,” the spokesperson said. “But as usual, the state is in no rush.”

Including the extension in the agreement appeared to have been used as bargaining chip by the government, with the immediate threat of evacuation looming if the deal was not signed.

While government officials floated the idea of requesting an extension two weeks ago, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry said “political reasons” had held up the request.

No court debate is required for judges to rule on the request but they are obligated to ask the anti-settlement group Yesh Din, who originally petitioned the court against Amona, for their response.

A spokesman for the group told the Times of Israel that it will oppose the request.