Resistance to Amona evacuation will be non-violent, leader says
Demolition of illegal outpost won’t involve the kind of violence between settlers, security forces seen in 2006 eviction, Avichai Boaron asserts
The spokesman for the West Bank outpost of Amona vowed that protests against the court-ordered evacuation and demolition of the illegal community will be nonviolent.
Avichai Boaron on Friday called for thousands of supporters to join Amona residents in their struggle to remain in the outpost, but said the evacuation would not descend into the kind of violence between settlers and security forces seen when part of the outpost was razed in 2006.
“There will be no violence. No one will raise a hand against a police officer or soldier,” Boaron told a group of young West Bank activists, according to Israel Radio.
“We want there to be a large presence there, but it’s important that I emphasize that there will be no violence,” he said.
“The resistance has to be passive — that is the only way we can express our opposition,” Boaron said. “It’s important to understand the the residents of Amona will be the ones leading this protest.”
Last week, the campaign against the demolition of the outpost sent out urgent calls for Israelis from all over the country to come to the outpost to help prevent its evacuation.
Settlers in the outpost in recent days have been photographed building new shelters to host the thousands of supporters they hope will come to join in their bid to stay put.
Boaron expressed hope that the arrival of supporters would compel the government to reach a last-minute deal that would thwart an evacuation.
Amona is the largest of about 100 unauthorized outposts — erected without permission but generally tolerated by the government — that dot the West Bank. The outpost became a symbol of settler defiance after the partial evacuation a decade ago sparked violent clashes between residents and thousands of allied activists on one side and security forces on the other.
In 2014, the High Court ordered the evacuation of Amona, after it determined the outpost was built on private Palestinian land, giving the government until this December 25 to tear down the outpost’s 50 trailer homes.
Saying they hoped to find a loophole to the court ruling, coalition lawmakers promoted a bill that would retroactively legalize Amona as well as thousands of other homes built on privately owned Palestinian land. But Amona was dropped from the draft bill after Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, whose Kulanu party is a senior coalition partner, refused to support legislation that would violate the High Court decision.
A revised bill, which received preliminary approval from the Knesset this week, is moving forward without Amona, leaving unsolved the fate of the outpost’s 300 residents.
Amona residents are hoping that their fate can still be linked to the outpost legalization bill, known as the Regulation Bill. But even with the evacuation likely to move forward, attempts to relocate Amona’s residents have hit snags. A plan to move them to a nearby plot of land appears to have been thwarted after Palestinians objected, saying they own that property too.
Police have declined to comment on plans for the evacuation. But the Haaretz daily has reported that some 1,000 officers are expected to be deployed and that 200 restraining orders are set to be issued to keep away potentially violent far-right activists.
Last week, Channel 2 aired footage showing Israeli soldiers and Border Police officers staging an evacuation exercise at an IDF training base in the Negev.
Simulations of various scenarios included the forcible evacuation of people passively resisting, as well violent reactions.
On Saturday, the TV channel said the government is expected to approve a NIS 500,000 ($130,000) compensation package for each family evacuated from Amona.
