Israeli settlers in front of fire in Amona

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

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.

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.

Read the full article by William Booth and Ruth Eglash at The Sydney Morning Herald.