Ahead of demolition, Givat Ulpana residents say they won’t fight police
Families at illegal outpost expected to leave non-violently Tuesday morning despite earlier vows by some settler activists to resist
Residents of five illegal Givat Ulpana buildings that will be evacuated Tuesday morning are expected to leave peacefully, despite earlier vows to resist removal from their homes.
Thirty-three families were expected to begin leaving their homes in the Beit El neighborhood of Givat Ulpana on Tuesday and move into caravans on an army base nearby. The buildings, which a court ruled were sitting on private Palestinian land, are slated for demolition on July 1 at latest.
Three of the families who said they would not willingly leave their homes are, nonetheless, not expected to violently resist police officers.
Video published Monday showed families packing up belongings from their homes.
Settler leaders accepted a government offer last week to evacuate the buildings in exchange for 300 new housing units to be built in another part of the settlement.
The deal came after inhabitants of the unsanctioned outpost vowed at the beginning of June that they’d defend their hilltop and turn it into a battle zone if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to remove them from their homes.
Settlers said at the time that any effort to remove them from Givat Ulpana would result in “Amona times four,” referring to heavy resistance to removal by residents of the Amona outpost in 2006. Some 200 people were reported injured after protesters clashed violently with police officers then.
The High Court of Justice ruled in May that the contested buildings in Givat Ulpana — which the state accepts were built on private Palestinian land — home to about 30 Jewish families, must be dismantled by July 1.
A Knesset bill that attempted to overturn the court’s decision was defeated in a raucous Knesset session on June 6 with 69 MKs opposed, 22 in favor, and 29 abstentions.
