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Amona, Mateh Binyamin

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Amona is a religious Israeli settlement in Samaria on the West Bank, on a hill overlooking the long established Jewish settlement of Ofra. The yishuv, located within the municipal boundaries of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, was founded in 1997 on a barren hilltop and inhabited by young people originally from neighbouring Ofra. By late 2005, there were some thirty families living in the village. Amona is usually categorized as an outpost since it has never been fully approved by the Israeli government, even though several separate government ministries have contributed to its growth. Its name is derived from the Book of Joshua 18:24, where it is named Chepharhaammonai, literally, Village of the Amonites.

Confrontation

In 2005, Amana, the settlement wing of Gush Emunim, completed the construction of nine permanent homes for the some of the families. In response to this, the Peace Now movement petitioned the Supreme Court, demanding that the houses be demolished since they were allegedly built on Palestinian land, even though no Palestinian is included as a plaintiff and no Palestinian has ever approached the Israeli courts on the issue. The Attorney General’s office then gave the orders to destroy the buildings. At approximately 3 AM on February 1 2006 a petition was successfully filed with the Supreme Court to delay the expulsion until a special hearing at around 8 AM. The Supreme Court heard the case, requested time to consider the situation, and issued a 2-1 verdict to go ahead and destroy the nine homes.

Ten thousand Israeli policemen and soldiers appeared in Amona to carry out the demolition and to secure the troops involved in the operation. They faced an estimated 4,000 protesters (one thousand actively protesting inside and around the houses, and another few thousand in the surrounding area), mostly youths from across the country, but especially from nearby settlements and schools, who had fortified themselves inside the homes and on the roofs in an effort to block the order from being carried out, or at least protest and delay the demolition. The violent clashes that ensued surpassed any previous clashes between the security forces of the State of Israel and Jewish civilians, including the 2005 disengagement from the Gush Katif settlements. Demonstrators sat in front of the homes linking arms and legs after the roofs and rooms inside the homes were filled. According to the demonstrators and confirmed by video (see the end of this article), they were beaten with metal riot clubs by Israeli state security forces. In response, water, rocks, sand, paint, and pieces of twisted metal were thrown on the security forces from the roof. Next, Israeli police special forces officers were raised to the roofs, where the physical conflict continued. Next, the riot police entered the houses and removed the protestors sitting inside. Finally, the houses were destroyed.

Over 300 people were injured from both sides of the conflict. Among the injured were three members of Knesset: Efi Eitam was hospitalized, Arieh Eldad suffered a broken arm; and Nissan Slomianski. In addition to injuries that were treated on-site, buses, Army HMMWVs and helicopters were needed to evacuate the injured to hospital, about one-quarter of them police and soldiers for minor injuries sustained.

In March 2006, the Knesset parliamentary inquiry into the events at Amona determined that the police had employed excessive brutality striking protesters with clubs and charging them with horses. Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra was criticised for preventing police commanders from testifying at the hearings. The committee also found contradictions in the testimonies of the Army Chief Dan Halutz and the Internal Security Minister. In May 2006 President Katzav met with some of the injured protesters at Amona and stated that he would ask for a renewal of the investigation.

With the victorious Kadima party planning the withdrawal and evacuation of the West Bank , many on both the left and the right are warning that repetitions of the tragedy of Amona may be inevitable.

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