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Israeli settlers attack police as forced removals from West Bank outpost begin

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Amona: Waves of police on Wednesday surrounded a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank deemed illegal by Israel's highest court and began dragging angry residents, sputtering curses and prayers, out of their mobile homes.

After years of delay, the evacuation of the hard-line Amona settlers commenced, as youths in skullcaps burnt tyres, hurled rocks, and pushed and shoved authorities, alternately taunting police and pleading with them to disobey their orders to remove the community.

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Violence erupts as Israeli settlers evicted in West Bank

Israeli police scuffle with settlers as they try to remove them from the West Bank outpost of Amona, after the Supreme Court ruled that the outpost was illegal.

The day's bitter clashes transfixed the nation, as Jews evicted Jews, with the democratic state fighting to uphold the rule of law as religious, messianic settlers claimed the rule of God. The scenes played out live on television and the internet, as Israeli politicians promised this would not happen again.

The Amona issue had caused tension within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government. But it eased after he got behind a law proposed by the Jewish Home party, a far-right political ally, to retroactively legalise dozens of outposts. This would not apply to Amona because of the existing court decision.

"We have lost the battle over Amona but we are winning the campaign for the Land of Israel," cabinet minister and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett tweeted after the evacuation began.

Parliament is expected to pass the legislation next week. It is opposed, however, by Israel's attorney-general, and legal experts predict that it will eventually be overturned in court.

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Even the settlers seemed to know that this may be a last eviction, saying that now US President Donald Trump would support them. They were zealous in their resistance, but there was more the feeling they had lost a battle - even a skirmish - and not a war.

The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the demolition of the village of 40 families in 2014 because it was built on land privately owned by Palestinians from the neighbouring villages. 

Many settlers and their supporters who climbed the rocky hill to defend Amona blamed Mr Netanyahu for the community's imminent destruction.

As the thousands of police officers carried red-faced settlers and demonstrators from the homes, bulldozers idled down the hill, ready to knock down the cheap metal caravans, as well as playgrounds, vineyards, olive groves and a synagogue.

"We will be the last to be dragged from our homes," said Eli Greenberg, 43, a father of eight who was barricaded inside his family's trailer on the bitterly cold mountaintop.

"Why give this land to the Palestinians, who preach nothing but hate and violence, and want to destroy Israel?" he asked, speaking by mobile phone as police surrounded his home. "We feel good vibrations from Trump. This is the end of this terrible time."

The razing of Amona and the eviction of its families has been more than a decade in the making. The long timeline underscored the political challenges for Israeli leaders, who count on the support of 600,000 settlers now living in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem but have feared US condemnation under both Republican and Democratic leadership.

By the early evening, Israeli security forces had removed 20 families from their homes and arrested a handful of activists who had turned out to support the residents.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 15 police officers had been lightly injured in scuffles with settlers and their supporters.

In an attempt to calm the settlers' fury, Israeli leaders promised that the dismantling of Amona would bring renewed building in the occupied West Bank.

Last week, Mr Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that 2500 new homes would be built in the West Bank. On Tuesday, in anticipation of the Amona clashes, they promised 3000 more.

An announcement of 5500 new homes would have brought swift, harsh condemnation from the Obama administration, which for eight years branded such building "illegitimate" and "an obstacle to peace" between Jews and Arabs.

The Trump administration has so far remained silent.

"This is a very difficult day," Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, also a member of the Jewish Home party, said in an interview with the Israeli news site Walla. "We have tried and tried to prevent this from happening, but now we are watching 40 families being evicted from their homes. 

"But we need to remember that this terrible day will eventually bring about new building in the West Bank," she said.

Still, promises of new houses to come did little on Wednesday to douse the anger of hundreds of young activists who had trudged up the hillside overnight to protect Amona's residents and slow down the demolition.

Zvi Sukkot, a settler from the hard-line Yitzar community and an organiser with a bullhorn, said: "We are here to show everybody our strong Jewish connection to the land as told in the Bible."

He didn't blame former president Barack Obama for the evacuation; he blamed Netanyahu. But other settlers turned their eyes toward Trump as the new beginning.

"After eight years of Obama, who didn't let us build, now we'll say, 'We will build and build,' " said Shilo Adler, who heads the Yesha Council, which represents the Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

"Now is history-making time," Adler said. "This is the moment. This is when we tell Netanyahu: 'This is what we want. This is why we elected you.' "

Shilo Adler, who heads the Yesha Council, which represents Israeli settlers in the West Bank, said they wanted 100,000 new homes - which would at least double the Jewish population in the West Bank - on land the Palestinians seek for a future nation under the two-state solution.

Last month, after the Supreme Court's eviction order was postponed one last time, the government announced that it had reached an agreement with the Amona settlers - a hefty payout and promises of another spot on the same hillside in exchange for a low-key, peaceful move.

But as the days wore on, residents of Amona saw no new community being built for them, and Israeli human rights groups filed additional legal petitions on behalf of Palestinians who claim to own that land, too.

The agreement broke down, and this week, the army gave the settlers 48 hours to leave peacefully.

Most of the world considers the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank to be illegal, not just those built on Palestinian private property. Israel disputes this.

Inside Amona, young Jewish men and women hunkered down in abandoned houses, barbed wire strung up around doors and windows. They climbed on top of the caravans, waving Israeli flags, and protesters screamed at the police "Shame on you, this is the land of Israel" and "Jews should not evict Jews".

"It feels great to see settlers being taken off my land and their caravans removed. The court has done a good thing, although it has taken a long time," said Ibrahim Yaqoub, 56, a Palestinian farmer who is part owner of the land.

"The question now is whether I will be allowed to return to my land and farm it again," he said. "I don't think so. The ultimate suffering as a farmer is to see your land but not be able to use it."

Washington Post, Reuters