Violent demolition in Amona (file)
Violent demolition in Amona (file)Pierre Terdjman/Flash 90

The Yesha Council of Judea and Samaria on Friday morning strongly condemned the High Court ruling to destroy the community of Amona in the Binyamin region of Samaria within two years.

"The High Court didn't do justice, morals or law," said the Council. "Unfortunately again the hostility and bias of the High Court was proven, when it decided to completely ignore the purchase of land conducted by residents of Amona, and the fact that the petitioners didn't succeed in proving their ownership of the land."

Heads of the Yesha Council called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government to immediately adopt the 2012 Levy report, which proved that Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria is completely legal under international law.

"The goal of the petitioners is political, their entire desire is to destroy and harm the settlements, but the settlements in Judea and Samaria are stronger than all the petitions and will continue to strike deep roots in the soil of the land," said the Council.

Rabbi Yair Frank, the rabbi of Amona, said "there's no true need to cause suffering to families and children, to cause another unnecessary schism in the people of Israel. Especially after as everyone knows large parts of the community Amona were acquired according to the law, and they are today Jewish property."

Amona was founded in 1995; in 2004 the state ordered the demolition of nine homes despite the lack of evidence behind Arab land claims. In 2006, the IDF and police came out in full force to remove residents and hundreds of protesters, wounding over 300 people, including three MKs. In an inquiry later, the Knesset decided that the police had exercised excessive force.

Rabbi Frank noted that in the High Court ruling, the judges even noted that after a process of splitting the lands that were acquired legally is finished, the state can arrange the community as being recognized legally.

"Therefore we are surprised why the court needs to hurry and fix now a date for evacuating the entire settlement," said the rabbi, noting that the process splitting of lands at a district court has yet to be concluded.

The rabbi added that members of the community "expect and demand today from the political echelon, and first of all from the Likud and Jewish Home parties, to prove that there's a government in Jerusalem that will put reason into the madness and show us all the firm, strong Zionist vision against all those who seek to weaken it, and through legislature in the Knesset will overturn this wretched decision."

"This in our eyes will be the main test of Netanyahu in the next term, and he needs to obligate to it today," concluded Rabbi Frank.