High Court issues order banning Amona outpost demolitions

://www.haaretzdaily.com ^ | 13:59 27/01/2006 | Nadav Shragai and Gideon Alon

[Esther Ruth]

Last update - 13:59 27/01/2006

High Court issues order banning Amona outpost demolitions

By Nadav Shragai and Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondents and Itim

High Court Justice Salim Jubran on Friday issued an interim order banning the demolition of buildings in the illegal outpost of Amona until another decision is given on the matter.

Justice Jubran ruled that a panel of three justices would attend a hearing on the Amona outpost on Sunday.

Right-wing officials expressed rage at the state's statement submitted to the High Court, according to which settlers fortified the buildings in Amona in order to prevent the Israel Defense Forces from demolishing the buildings. The Yesha Council said that "since the sealing of the Amona homes, no change has been carried out in the community, no fortifications were erected and no preparations for illegal activity were carried out as claimed by the state."

Pinhas Wallerstein, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, said Friday that he finds it hard to believe that the state lied knowingly. MK Uri Ariel, one of the Yesha Council leaders, said that the government intentionally causes soldiers and civilians to clash.

Amona residents earlier this week petitioned the High Court against the demolition of the outpost's nine buildings. The petition included a detailed description of the process of the land purchase in the area, which has not yet been formally completed.

Netanyahu refuses to join request to delay Amona, Hebron evacuations Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to sign a letter urging Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to postpone the evacuation of the illegal Amona outpost and Hebron market until after the elections in March.

[Esther Ruth]

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The IDF was to declare the Jewish section of Hebron a closed military area Friday morning, in preparation for the evacuation of nine Jewish families from the city's wholesale market, Hebron settlers said Thursday.
The settlers, who believe the evacuation is slated to take place sometime next week, are planning a major solidarity conference Tuesday against the planned move. Politicians, rabbis and academics are among those expected to attend the gathering.

The Chabad Movement, at an annual conference for Chabad emissaries in Zichron Ya'akov on Thursday, also decided to embark on an "uncompromising struggle to prevent the expulsion of the Jews of Hebron." Chabad representatives will pay a solidarity visit to Hebron on Sunday.

The Yesha Council of settlements met Thursday with representatives of the Likud, Shas, National Union and National Religious Party to discuss coordinating the struggle against both the planned evacuation in Hebron and the planned demolition of nine houses at the outpost of Amona, near Ofra.

[Esther Ruth]

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"Religious Zionism... is currently being subjected to a brutal attack and psychological warfare by the acting prime minister, who wants a civil war at any price and continues to ignore compromise proposals by representatives of the Yesha Council, Amona and Hebron," the council said in a statement Thursday. "At a meeting between the Yesha Council and representatives of the parties of the national camp, it was decided to wage a determined struggle, without compromises and without embraces."