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Israel orders destruction of Amona settlement

Israel Materials 26 December 2014 10:25 (UTC +04:00)
An Israeli court ordered the destruction of a settlement in the West Bank in a decision on Thursday that comes a decade after the first ruling to demolish the outpost
Israel orders destruction of Amona settlement

An Israeli court ordered the destruction of a settlement in the West Bank in a decision on Thursday that comes a decade after the first ruling to demolish the outpost, Al Arabiya reported.

The state "must act to carry out the demolition orders to all the structures in the locale, as they had committed to," the ruling read, noting a grace period of two years to enable the families to resettle, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Supreme Court ruling is the latest in the long series of demolition deadlines and postponements for the Amona wildcat settlement, which is home to some 50 families.

The decision noted that there were still ongoing cases regarding the ownership of plots in the Amona settlement in other courts.

Amona is the largest outpost in the West Bank, and was built on lands near Ramallah privately owned by Palestinians who were behind the court petition.

The demolition decision comes days after Israeli authorities have given final approval to the construction of 380 new illegal settler homes in two areas of occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel considers settlements built without government approval to be illegal and often sends security personnel to demolish them.

Settlement building in the territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War is considered illegal under international law and the issue remains one of the most divisive in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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