The High Court issued an injunction Monday halting preparatory work on land parcels 28, 29 and 30, to which residents of the contested Samaria outpost Amona were meant to be relocated following the outpost's eviction, scheduled for Feb. 8. The court's order came after residents of nearby Silwad filed ownership claims over the land parcels, which had been classified as abandoned property. Justice Salim Joubran ruled that the residents' ownership petition would be discussed as soon as possible, ordering the state to submit a response prior to the hearing. The petition was filed by the Yesh Din human rights organization on behalf of the Silwad local council leader and several Palestinians claiming ownership over the land. Until the claims can be verified, Joubran halted any work that would divide or change the condition of the land. The petition, presented by attorneys Shlomy Zecharia, Mohammed Shakir and Michal Ziv, claimed that using the abandoned land to house Amona's residents is illegal, as it is based on the false pretext that relocating the outpost's residents is an urgent public need. The petition further claimed that preparing and allocating plots of land for Amona's residents would prevent the rightful owners from being able to access their land. Meanwhile, Amona residents are preparing to renew their struggle against eviction, after their hard-won approval of the framework that would have had them temporarily moved to the now-contested parcels of land. Many of them feel that since the terms of the relocation framework have been altered, they are no longer bound by their assurance of a voluntary and peaceful eviction. The residents are set to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday evening, wherein they are expected to officially announce the renewal of a public struggle against the eviction and to call on the government to pass the outpost regulation bill in an effort to save Amona. The outpost regulation bill would allow the government to retroactively grant the necessary permits to contested outposts in Judea and Samaria. While the bill passed its preliminary Knesset reading in November, the draft excluded Amona, and work on the bill has not progressed since. "The government has deceived us and went back on its commitments," one resident said. "Now the only solution that remains is the bill. It is impossible for a national government to erase a 20-year-old settlement." At the same time, caravan housing units have been set up in the nearby settlement of Ofra, though it is not unclear at this time whether Amona's residents will be relocated to them. Amona's eviction was initially scheduled for Dec. 25. After intense negotiations with the residents, who eventually agreed to be temporarily relocated to a nearby plot of land registered as abandoned property and known as Parcel 38, the court granted the state's motion to postpone the eviction by 45 days, setting it for Feb. 8. Nine structures in Ofra, built on private Palestinian land, will also be evicted that day. The High Court had postponed the December eviction date with the understanding that Amona's residents would leave their homes quietly.
