Amona Residents Demonstrate at Knesset

Jerusalem, 9 February, 2017 (TPS) -- Residents of Amona, who were evicted last week from their homes in the illegal outpost adjacent to Ofra, said Thursday that they have chosen a site for a new settlement and called on the government to keep its promise to provide alternative housing in the event the the original community was torn down.

Residents have set up a protest camp opposite the Knesset, and say they will remain there until the government keeps its promise to them to approve a new settlement for them on the site they have chosen. The government committed to granting the approval by the end of March.

In a statement released to the media ahead of a demonstration Thursday afternoon, residents of the former outpost said they have lived in a high school dormitory in Ofra since the eviction but added they have slated a hilltop known as “Geulat Zion,” north-east of Shilo, for the new community. Residents said the hill is located entirely on state land, and said they will continue manning the protest tent  until the government fulfills its commitment and approves construction of the new town.

“We have heard many promises. We are not interested in promises, only in action. After the painful blow we have sustained, after the injustice of watching our community destroyed, we [need to see] the construction of a new community and the rehabilitation of our community. We are not interested in ‘better conditions’ or some sort of easy answer. We’re here, living in tents outside the Knesset, until the government lives up to the promises it made to us. We have the strength to build and to plant, and this is what will give us the energy to lift ourselves out of our mourning. It is also what the Jewish People deserve in light of the enormous damage that has been done.”