Israeli forces arrived at the Amona mountain in northern Judea early Thursday morning to evacuate two temporary homes that had been placed there last month.
Earlier this week, the state prosecutor’s office informed families from the Amona community that if the homes were not dismantled within 48 hours, they would be confiscated by the state.
The ultimatum was issued despite the fact that the temporary homes are situated on private Jewish land.
Amona residents were expelled when their village was destroyed in 2017 because some of the mountain had been ruled by Israel’s Supreme Court to legally belong to a Palestinian family.
The community then raised money to legally buy the land from its owners for several million shekels in a deal approved by the Civil Administration.
The purchase, however, also requires the approval of Israel’s political echelon, including the prime minister and defense minister. Both ministries are currently held by Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud), who seems unwilling to approve the sale and allow the Amona community to return home.
According to police sources, hundreds of teenage activists attempted to resist Thursday morning’s expulsion by barricading themselves in the structures, pouring oil on the road up the mountain and pelting objects at security forces.
Five policemen and two teenagers were reportedly injured in the clashes that ensued and were later taken to hospitals in Jerusalem for treatment.
Last week, Attorney-General Aviḥai Mandelblit condemned the construction of the homes and the mass migration of young activists to Amona, which had been carried out with the participation of several Israeli lawmakers.
Mandelblit contends that any civilian presence on the Amona mountain is a violation of Israeli law, since the caravans were placed in an area defined as a “restricted area” by military order that prohibits entry into the area.
But in the reality that currently exists in the West Bank, justice rarely has anything to do with the rule of law.
Rather than playing political games with the lives of Jewish residents and forcing Palestinians to endure a brutal military bureaucracy, our political leaders should make clear their intention to retain the territories under full Israeli sovereignty.
This would mean offering all people of the West Bank the same rights and protections Israeli citizens enjoy west of the green line and ending the uncertainty hanging over the heads of both populations.
There isn’t going to be a two-state solution – no matter how hard the international community pushes – because at the end of the day, partitioning the country into two separate states would do nothing to address the grievances or aspirations of either population on the ground. In fact, it would likely further antagonize both and exacerbate the tensions that fuel our conflict. And because pretending a two-state solution is on the horizon has allowed Israeli leaders to avoid taking responsibility for ensuring justice for both peoples, the facade itself needs to come to an end.
If the Jews of Amona have indeed purchased the land their village was on from the Palestinian owners, bureaucratic technicalities shouldn’t be used to prevent their return. In fact, honoring the purchase would be a great way for the state to deter Jewish nationalists from unilaterally building homes on land that might belong to someone and encourage them to establish new communities in a proper way that respects Palestinian property rights.
Mandleblit will attack Jews for building on legally purchased land but he does nothing about the illegal Arab construction on stolen Jewish land. He like his prime minister are traitors.