Contested eviction averted as residents approve new deal, which would allow over half the town to be relocated to nearby plots on same hill.
Amona residents voted Sunday afternoon to approve a new offer presented by the government Saturday night which would allow over half the town’s families to remain on the hill where it is presently located.
The agreement, reached by Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) after a previous offer was rejected by residents, would allow 24 of Amona’s 42 families to be relocated to nearby plots on the same hill on which Amona currently stands. Those plots, currently unclaimed land, would be incorporated as state land using the Absentee Property Law.
The previous agreement would have allowed only 12 of the families to be relocated to the nearby plots and the residents rejected it as untenable.
Clearly-defined timetables for the relocation were also added to the new compromise agreement worked out between the Jewish Home leader and the Prime Minister.
Amona representative Ofer Inbar clarified on Sunday that the town’s acceptance of the deal did not signal an end to the struggle on behalf of the embattled Samarian town if the government does keep its side of the agreement.
“We’ve decided to temporarily suspend the resistance [against the planned eviction], and to accept the government’s offer to build 52 new homes and public buildings in Amona,” said Inbar. “We decided to give the offer a chance and to [re]build our homes and lives here in Amona.”
“We’ll keep a close watch and see if the state lives up to its promises to build homes and new public buildings in Amona,” added Inbar.
“If the state doesn’t stand by its promises, we won’t hesitate to renew our efforts on behalf of our town and all of the Land of Israel – Amona will not fall again.”