Ulpana residents: Attempt to raze outpost will lead to violent clashes

Residents of the Givat Ulpana outpost in Beit El said Saturday night their hilltop would turn into a battle zone if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempts to move them out of their homes.

Settlers said the effort to move them out would turn out like “Amona time four,” according to Ynet news.

Amona, a central West Bank outpost evacuated in 2006, saw some of the heaviest resistance by residents and others against forces sent to move them out. Some 200 people were reported injured after protesters clashed violently with police officers.

Netanyahu said Saturday that he planned to comply with a High Court ruling ordering that five buildings in the neighborhood be razed this summer, drawing flack from right-wing politicians, including from within his own Likud Party. In place of the outpost buildings, Netanyahu said, residents would moved within Beit El, and 10 homes would be built in the settlements for each one torn down.”

Residents said they do not intend to go along with the plan.

“Everyone understand that this is the beginning of the battle for the whole settlement enterprise,” outpost resident Yoel Fattal told Ynet. “Amona 2 is definitely a possibility.”

Another resident, Didi Dickstein, said residents felt they were being pushed into a corner. “I fear the terrible consequences from things that will happen here. There will be a clash, even though we love Israel, there will be a terrible clash between us and the soldiers.”

MK Zeev Elkin, from the right flank of the Likud party, said he would bring to a vote this week a law intended to allow the government to ignore the High Court ruling. The law, which now lacks Netanyahu’s support, is not expected to pass.

National Union MK Yaakov Katz said the move to raze Ulpana would set a precedent, endangering thousands more settlers whose homes are built on shaky legal ground.

“We’re talking about the expulsion of 70,000 Jews, the obliteration of entire communities, land 10 times larger than Gush Katif – a mega-disengagement,” he said.

Former Yesha settlers council head Naftali Bennet told Maariv the decision was a failure of Netanyahu’s unity government. “The Likud reached tonight the end of its road, historically,” he said, calling the party the official demolition contractor for the settlement enterprise.

Likud MK Danny Danon also slammed the decision, stating that Ehud Barak and the Kadima party members who had recently joined the coalition, among them Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz, were pushing the coalition leftwards.