Showdown brewing between Israel – Palestine as demolition date for West Bank settlement nears

The caravans are clustered together at the top of the hill, providing some reprieve from the wind that whips off the otherwise dry and barren surrounding landscape, and seem, depending on whom you ask, dropped there almost as if by God himself. Children rove in and out of the boxy, utilitarian buildings, more often than […]

The caravans are clustered together at the top of the hill, providing some reprieve from the wind that whips off the otherwise dry and barren surrounding landscape, and seem, depending on whom you ask, dropped there almost as if by God himself.

Children rove in and out of the boxy, utilitarian buildings, more often than not unaccompanied by an adult, as they make their way towards the heart of the community: a small park with a playground.

"We like to say that we have to put stones in our kids’ shoes to keep them from flying away," said Eli Greenberg, a resident of the Amona outpost who has eight children, about the conditions on the hilltop.

By December 25, the 40 Jewish families – and their 200-plus children – who live in Amona must leave. The land here belongs to Palestinians from surrounding West Bank villages, according to Israel’s top court.

In Jerusalem, about 20 kilometres south, some lawmakers are racing against the clock to pass a law that would allow several settlements, including Amona, to be retroactively legalized.

This isn’t the first time a showdown has been brewing in Amona. An attempt to evacuate the outpost in 2006, a decade after its founding, led to violent clashes, and only nine structures were demolished.

In 2008, the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din successfully petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to remove all the homes, on the basis that they were built on land owned by local Palestinians.

After granting multiple delay requests by the Israeli government for more time to relocate people, the Supreme Court in December 2014 finally mandated a deadline for demolishing Amona within two years.

Mariam Hammad is one of the 10 Palestinian landowners. "Our land is more dear to us than our sons," says the tiny 82-year-old from nearby Silwad. "They are taking what is so important to us," she said.

Her story was echoed by several of the other landowners, who described their ties to the land, the ever-present threat posed by the settlers, and the day that the court ruled their documents proved they were the rightful owners: "Israeli authorities do not deny that the land was built on private land and that it was illegally built."

Hammad, who was able to prove that 2.4 hectares were rightfully hers, recalled how her father used to the work the land on the hilltop.

"I remember helping my father with the harvest. I remember when we put up a tent to shield ourselves from the sun," she said, adding that he grew tomatoes and peas.

Amona resident Nahum Schwartz, who grew up in the Ofra settlement at the base of the hill, remembers it differently: "Nothing was here."

The 42-year-old, awaiting his seventh child, was one of the original "pioneers" and recalled being chided for not being quicker to follow former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s call to "grab every hilltop."

"This was our playground. My parents were pioneers. This is how we were raised. The mission had to go on," the farmer said. "We believe we belong in this land, and we believe this land belongs to us."

From his point of view, the bill currently in the Knesset is a win-win situation, where the Palestinian plaintiffs could be compensated with money or other land, and the settlers could stay.

"I would rather spend this Christmas drinking eggnog," said Greenberg wryly, adding: "I am sure we will be here after [December 25]."

However, the residents are already gearing up for a fight. As in 2006, during the first attempt at evacuating Amona, thousands of volunteers are gathering to help with barricading the outpost.

That time around, extremist settlers pelted security forces with rocks, paint and cinder blocks, with the resulting violence leaving more than 200 protesters and some 50 police officers injured.

"We are trying to do our best not to reach that stage," Greenberg said. But: "We have the ability to protest. These are human lives." (DPA)