AMONA, West Bank: Israeli police moved into an outpost in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday to remove settlers who Israel's Supreme Court ruled have been living illegally on privately owned Palestinian land.

Settlers and dozens of pro-settlement activists who flocked to the Amona outpost to protest against the evacuation burned tyres and piled makeshift barricades at its entrance.

But there was no immediate violence as columns of unarmed police walked towards prefabricated homes where some 330 settlers live.

Several families with small children walked out of the outpost minutes before the operation began. But others said they would stay put and peacefully resist eviction.

"We won't leave out homes on our own. Pull us out, and we'll go," Avihai Bavaron, one of the outpost's leaders, told reporters. "It is a black day for Zionism."

Hours before the police operation, Israel announced plans for 3,000 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the third such declaration in eleven days since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Trump has signalled he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his predecessor Barack Obama.

An announcement a week ago by Israel that it would build some 2,500 more homes in the West Bank, territory captured in a 1967 Middle East war, drew rebukes from the Palestinians and from the EU. It followed approval of more than 560 new homes in East Jerusalem days before.

Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

The legal battle over Amona has dragged on for eight years. Under the latest Supreme Court ruling, it had to be evacuated by Feb. 8.

In 2006 Amona saw a violent partial eviction, with nine shacks torn down by authorities. Police were confronted by thousands of settlers and more than 200 people were injured.

Most countries consider settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace, as they fragment territory Palestinians seek for a viable state.

Israel disagrees, citing historical and political links to the land - which the Palestinians also assert - as well as security interests.

The Israeli parliament is due to vote next week on a law that would retroactively legalise dozens of outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land without government authorisation.

Backed by the Israeli government but described as unconstitutional by the attorney-general, the bill is expected to pass. Legal experts said, however, it would not survive any challenge in the Supreme Court.

Outposts usually start with pre-fabricated huts on remote hilltops, lived in by a handful of settlers. Over time, they acquire Israeli military protection and hook up to water and electricity networks, slowly becoming more formalised. </s> Rightist protesters scuffled with Israeli police carrying out a court order to evict settlers from an illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, hours after the government announced more construction in larger settlements.

Around 330 Israeli settlers live in Amona, the largest of scores of outposts built in the West Bank without official authorisation. The Supreme Court ruled in November, after a lengthy legal battle, that settlers had to leave Amona because their homes were built on privately owned Palestinian land.

With no weapons visible, but wearing backpacks, hundreds of police walked past burning tyres and pushed back against scores of nationalist Israeli youths who flocked to Amona in support of the settlers.

Working into the night the forces made slow progress, with three or four policemen at a time lifting each of the protesters out of dwellings in which they had holed up, and carrying them away onto buses.

By dark police said only 22 of Amona’s 40 families had left.

Thirteen protesters were detained by police during the scuffles and there were a few instances of stone-throwing. A police spokesmen said at least 20 officers were injured slightly by rocks and caustic liquid thrown at them.

The Amona settlers themselves stayed largely put inside their homes after erecting makeshift barriers in front of their doors and vowing passive resistance to eviction.

 “We won’t leave our homes on our own. Pull us out, and we’ll go,” one settler told reporters. “It is a black day for Zionism.”

On a nearby hilltop, Issa Zayed, a Palestinian who said he was one of the owners of the land on which Amona was built, watched the scene through binoculars. “With God’s help, it will be evacuated and our land will return to us,” he said.

Most countries consider all Israeli settlements to be illegal. Israel disagrees, citing historical and political links to the land - which the Palestinians also assert - as well as security interests.

Earlier, Israel announced plans for 3,000 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the third such declaration in 11 days since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Trump, a Republican, has signalled he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.

An announcement a week ago by Israel that it would build some 2,500 more dwellings in the West Bank, territory captured in a 1967 Middle East war and where Palestinians now seek statehood, drew rebukes from the Palestinians and the European Union. It followed approval a few days before of over 560 new homes in East Jerusalem, also taken by Israel in 1967.

“The decision ... will place obstacles in the path of any effort to start a peace process that will lead to security and peace,” said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

 In 2006 Amona saw a violent partial eviction, with nine shacks torn down by authorities. Police were confronted by thousands of settlers and more than 200 people were injured.

The Amona issue had caused tension within 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.

The legislation is expected to be passed in parliament next week. It is opposed, however, by Israel’s attorney-general and legal experts predict it eventually would be overturned in court. </s> Settlers and dozens of pro-settlement activists who flocked to the Amona outpost to protest against the evacuation burned tyres and piled makeshift barricades at its entrance. But there was no immediate violence as columns of unarmed police walked towards prefabricated homes where some 330 settlers live. Several families with small children walked out of the outpost minutes before the operation began. But others said they would stay put and peacefully resist eviction.

"We won't leave out homes on our own. Pull us out, and we'll go," Avihai Bavaron, one of the outpost's leaders, told reporters. "It is a black day for Zionism." Hours before the police operation, Israel announced plans for 3,000 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the third such declaration in eleven days since President Donald Trump took office. Trump has signalled he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his predecessor Barack Obama.

An announcement a week ago by Israel that it would build some 2,500 more homes in the West Bank, territory captured in a 1967 Middle East war, drew rebukes from the Palestinians and from the EU. It followed approval of more than 560 new homes in East Jerusalem days before.

Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The legal battle over Amona has dragged on for eight years. Under the latest Supreme Court ruling, it had to be evacuated by Feb. 8. In 2006 Amona saw a violent partial eviction, with nine shacks torn down by authorities. Police were confronted by thousands of settlers and more than 200 people were injured.

Most countries consider settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace, as they fragment territory Palestinians seek for a viable state. Israel disagrees, citing historical and political links to the land - which the Palestinians also assert - as well as security interests. The Israeli parliament is due to vote next week on a law that would retroactively legalise dozens of outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land without government authorisation.

Backed by the Israeli government but described as unconstitutional by the attorney-general, the bill is expected to pass. Legal experts said, however, it would not survive any challenge in the Supreme Court. Outposts usually start with pre-fabricated huts on remote hilltops, lived in by a handful of settlers. Over time, they acquire Israeli military protection and hook up to water and electricity networks, slowly becoming more formalised. </s> "We are in a new period in which life in Judea and Samaria is back on track," Mr Lieberman said in a statement using the Biblical term for the West Bank.

Mr Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Mr Trump at the White House on February 15, and the two men are expected to seek understandings on Israeli construction plans for the West Bank.

The announcement followed a military order, dated Monday, for residents of Amona to evacuate the area within 48 hours. Israeli media said residents could be removed as early as Wednesday morning.

Israel's supreme court ruled in 2014 that Amona was built on private Palestinian land and must be demolished. It has set February 8 as the final date for it to be destroyed.

Amona is the largest of about 100 unauthorised outposts erected in the West Bank without permission but generally tolerated by the Israeli government.

The outpost, built in the 1990s, stretches out over a rugged, grassy hilltop and looks out across the valley onto Palestinian villages.

The Ynet news site said Israeli forces had cordoned off the outpost, but hundreds of youths managed to infiltrate to resist the impending evacuation.

In 2006, Israeli police demolished nine homes at Amona, setting off clashes pitting settlers and their supporters against police and soldiers. Several dozen trailers have remained and the outpost has become a symbol for the settlement movement.

Its fate has threatened to rupture Mr Netanyahu's narrow coalition, which is dominated by ultranationalists who support settlements.

Mr Netanyahu has struggled to find a balance between appeasing his settler constituents and respecting Israel's supreme court, which has drawn the ire of hard-liners by ruling against the settlers. </s> Israeli police on Tuesday began removing residents and protesters from nine West Bank settler homes set to be demolished under a Supreme Court ruling.

The homes in the Ofra settlement -- a symbol of Jewish settler defiance to international concerns -- were found to have been built on private Palestinian land and ordered razed by March 5.

On Tuesday police were entering the homes and removing young protesters one at a time, an AFP reporter said.

One youth was arrested for attacking officers, according to a police statement.

Police said they would act with restraint but would not tolerate violence. Eight families had agreed to leave their homes ahead of time, police said.

Leaders of the Ofra community said they were intent on preventing clashes with security forces such as those that took place during the eviction of the nearby Amona outpost three weeks ago, where youths barricaded themselves in the synagogue and wounded Israeli forces with stones and acid.

Amona residents announced they would begin a hunger strike on Wednesday until the government kept its committment to build them a new settlement.

More than 400,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Most of the international community sees settlements as a major obstacle to peace, as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Israel distinguishes between settlements it has authorised and those built without permission. </s> Israel's military has ordered residents of a West Bank settlement to evacuate the area within 48 hours, days before a deadline for its demolition that threatens to destabilise the government.

The Ynet news website and other outlets reported the army posted a notice at the entrance to the Amona outpost on Tuesday.

Ynet ran a picture of the order that said "After 48 hours nobody will enter or reside in the area." The military had no immediate comment.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that Amona was built on private Palestinian land and must be demolished.

It later set February 8 as the final date for it to be destroyed. The court is reportedly set to rule on a state relocation plan later in the day.

Amona is the largest of about 100 unauthorised outposts erected in the West Bank without permission but generally tolerated by the Israeli government.

The outpost, built in the 1990s, stretches out over a rugged, grassy hilltop and looks out across the valley onto Palestinian villages.

In 2006, Israeli police demolished nine homes at Amona, setting off clashes pitting settlers and their supporters against police and soldiers.

Several dozen trailers have remained and the outpost has become a symbol for the settlement movement.

Its fate has threatened to rupture Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's narrow coalition, which is dominated by ultra-nationalists who support settlements.

Mr Netanyahu has struggled to find a balance between appeasing his settler constituents and respecting Israel's Supreme Court, which has drawn the ire of hard-liners by ruling against the settlers. </s> Israeli police dragged nationalist youths out of a barricaded synagogue on Thursday, completing the forced evacuation of an illegal outpost in the West Bank even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to build evicted families a new settlement.

Some 100 youngsters protesting against the removal of some 300 settlers from Amona, an outpost built without Israeli government authorisation, kicked at police who used a high-pressure hose and a wooden pole to batter down sheet metal and furniture blocking the entrances to the synagogue.

The teenagers painted a Nazi swastika on a synagogue wall next to a slogan denouncing the police.

The evacuation began on Wednesday, when most of the families that settled in Amona were removed. But the youths holed up in the synagogue overnight.

Police, announcing that Amona had been cleared, said some 60 officers were slightly hurt in the two-day operation. Hospitals reported that at least four protesters had been treated for injuries.

Amona, built in 1995, was the largest of scores of outposts erected in the West Bank without formal approval. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled last November that it must be evacuated because it stands on privately-owned Palestinian land.

In a statement late on Wednesday and again in a speech in the West Bank on Thursday, Netanyahu said a new settlement would be built for Amona’s families and that a committee would be set up to locate a site.

“We will work to have it happen as soon as possible,” he said, speaking in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Once constructed, it will be the first new settlement built in the West Bank since 1999. Construction in existing settlements has raised to 350,000 the number of Israelis living in the territory, which was captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Another 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, also seized in that conflict.

Most countries consider all Israeli settlements to be illegal. Israel disagrees, citing historical and political links to the land – which the Palestinians also assert – as well as security interests.

Since Donald Trump took office as US president on Jan 20, Israel has announced plans for almost 6,000 more settlement homes in the West Bank, drawing European and Palestinian condemnation but no criticism from the White House.

Trump, a Republican, has signalled he could be more accommodating toward settlements than his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.

Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, which Israeli forces and settlers left in 2005, with East Jerusalem as its capital. </s> Hours after Israel approved 3,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank, Israeli security forces moved to evacuate settlers from an illegal outpost there, sparking scuffles.

There's been a clear uptick in the rate of settlement approval since Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. president less than two weeks ago — and Trump is expected to be supportive of settlement expansion. Last week, Israel announced that it planned to build 2,500 more homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Before that, it approved permits for 560 units in East Jerusalem.

Settlements are seen as an obstacle to peace, an impediment to any future two-state deal, and are widely condemned by Palestinians and by the international community.

There are many types of settlements — some are essentially large towns approved by the Israeli government, while others such as Amona, where the evacuation operation began midday Wednesday, are outposts built without government approval.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that Amona, located near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, "was built on private Palestinian land and must be demolished," The Associated Press writes. "It set Feb. 8 as the final date for it to be destroyed."

"On Tuesday, the Israeli army ordered residents to leave the outpost within 48 hours," Haaretz reports. Today, police climbed the hill to initiate the operation, setting off a tense standoff and skirmishes with settlers and their supporters.

Joanna Kakissis, reporting for NPR, was at Amona and this is what she saw:



"Many of the protesters traveled from other towns to prevent the evacuation of some forty families who have built their homes on this hilltop. "They burned tires, slicked the roads with oil and helped families barricade themselves inside their homes. "Ayelet Vidal, a 35-year-old book editor and mother of four, sipped tea near her bookshelf. She said she'd stay until security forces physically carried her out."



Sixteen police officers and two civilians were injured in the melee, Haaretz says, adding that "evacuation efforts were expected to last through the night."

Yesh Din, an Israeli organization that fought against the illegal outpost in court, hailed the start of the operation in a post on Facebook. "We hope security forces and residents of the outpost will keep to a peaceful and non-violent evacuation of the outpost," it says. The group posted pictures of Palestinians who own the land, and said: "After being prevented from accessing their land for twenty years, they are waiting to return."

The evacuation of Amona has been repeatedly delayed. Israeli authorities likely wanted to avoid the sort of violent clashes that occurred there in 2006 when troops attempted to dismantle eight empty homes. As NPR reported at the time, more than 300 Israeli soldiers and settlers were injured in the ensuing violence.

Israel's parliament is also expected to receive legislation next week which would "retroactively legalise dozens of outposts," according to Reuters. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports that proposed law, the wire service reports.

Israeli far-right hardliners are finding reasons to celebrate these days: "We have lost the battle over Amona but we are winning the campaign for the Land of Israel," tweeted Naftali Bennett, leader of the far-right Jewish Home Party, according to Reuters.

"We are in a new period in which life in Judea and Samaria are back on track," Defense Minster Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement, according to Haaretz. Judea and Samaria is the biblical name for the area that makes up the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has started "urgent discussions" over the escalating pace of settlement expansion plans, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an reports. </s> Israeli policeman grabs a young settler from the West Bank settlement of Ofra, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017. Israeli forces began evacuating nine homes in the settlement following a Supreme Court decision that ruled they were built on private Palestinian land.

OFRA, West Bank — Israeli forces began evacuating nine homes in the West Bank settlement of Ofra on Tuesday, following a Supreme Court decision that ruled they were built on private Palestinian land.

Dozens of settlers and their supporters were protesting on the rooftops as military and police forces handed the evacuation orders to settler leaders and asked them to cooperate peacefully and avoid confrontation.

Brig. Gen. Yoram Sofer pleaded with the settlers "to act according to moral standards, to assist us and not to use violence."

One of the residents defiantly tore up the order while others, mainly youths, were carried away by troops tasked with clearing the area. No major disturbances were reported.

Earlier this month, Israeli forces uprooted Amona, a nearby West Bank outpost, following a similar court order. The forces removed residents and hundreds of their supporters in sometimes violent clashes as they dismantled a community that had become a symbol of Jewish settler defiance.

The outpost of Amona was the largest of about 100 unauthorized outposts erected in the West Bank without formal permission but generally with tacit support from the Israeli government. It was the scene of violent clashes between settlers and security forces during a partial demolition in 2006.

Such evacuations have created tension in the hard-line coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been caught between appeasing his pro-settler coalition allies and respecting the rulings issued by the Supreme Court.

The Palestinians and most of the international community consider both outposts and settlements illegal and see them as an obstacle to creating a Palestinian state.

The Palestinians want the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war — for their future state. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, and the territory was subsequently overrun by the Hamas militant group.
Israeli security forces begin evicting people from the illegal Amona, Mateh Binyamin, outpost built on private Palestinian-owned land near Ramallah in the central West Bank. The Supreme Court ordered residents to leave the area last year.