Yesh Din petitions court against A-G over evacuation of Amona homes

NGO says Weinstein should be held in contempt for failing to comply with court's decision to evacuate outpost.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein 370 (R) (photo credit: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters)
Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein 370 (R)
(photo credit: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters)
Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein should be held in contempt for failing to comply with a judicial order on the evacuation of the Amona outpost, the non-governmental group Yesh Din said as it petitioned the High Court of Justice against him on Monday.
In a letter written to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last week, Weinstein said that only one home and a portion of the access road to Amona must be demolished by July 24.
The High Court of Justice set that date earlier this month, when it determined that homes in Amona could remain at their present location, until the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled on settler claims they had purchased some of the outpost land from its Palestinian owners.
But the court did not say how many of the 40 families in Amona lived on land for which there were purchase claims.
The High Court added that only those homes with no purchase claim against them needed to be demolished by July 24.
It did not explain how many homes would need to be removed to meet its dictates.
Settlers claimed that their reading of the court decision meant that only one home needed to be removed, while Yesh Din said that 30 homes would have to be demolished.
Yesh Din petitioned the High Court against the Amona outpost in 2008 on behalf of the Palestinian landowners on whose property the outpost was built in 1995. It is located in the Binyamin region of the West Bank, on the outskirts of the Ofra settlement.
According to the 2005 government- sponsored report on West Bank outposts by private attorney Talia Sasson, the outpost was built on private Palestinian property without the necessary permits.
The Construction and Housing Ministry spent NIS 2.16 million on infrastructure for Amona, according to Sasson.
In compliance with the court order, settlers have already begun to demolish the access road to Amona. But they have built an alternative route.