Israeli settlers battle eviction from West Bank outpost

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM (AA) - Hardline Israeli settlers faced off with Israeli security forces on Wednesday as an illegal settler outpost was dismantled in the Israel-occupied West Bank.

Young settlers, many of whom had come from settlements elsewhere in the West Bank to protest the eviction, poured oil onto roads leading to the Amona outpost and blocked them with stones, metal spikes and burning tires.

"Policemen are about to knock down my door and… put us on a bus and kick us out," Eli Greenberg, a 43-year-old settler and father of eight who has lived in Amona for 13 years, said.

Greenberg said the Amona outpost symbolized the strength of Israel and the settler movement.

While some outpost residents appeared resigned to the move, others threw their belongings onto the roofs of their homes in an effort to hinder the eviction.

"If any [violent] incidents occur, police will respond immediately," a police spokesman said in a statement.

"Evacuation of the area will be implemented after the court decision that was made," he added.

The Israeli High Court had initially ordered that the outpost be dismantled, ruling that it had been built on private Palestinian land.

The court order, however, was temporarily suspended after the government struck a deal with the settlers for the peaceful evacuation of the outpost in return for them being allowed to build on a patch of nearby land, which they claimed had been abandoned -- an assertion challenged by local Palestinians.

The court ultimately overturned the deal to resettle Amona residents in the nearby area after Palestinians claimed ownership of the land in question.

While all Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank is illegal under international law, outposts are also considered illegal under Israeli law because they are built without the state's official approval.