(IsraelNN.com) Well over 1,000 residents from Jerusalem, Beit El, Ofrah and the vicinity arrived on very short notice at the Givat Assaf neighborhood last night - and their presence prevented Israeli Army forces from uprooting families there.

Givat Assaf is located on a hill with a commanding view of the strategic T-intersection on Highway 60. The community was established in April 2001 after Ofrah resident Assaf Hershkovitz was murdered by Arab terrorists just a few hundred meters away. Assaf's father Aryeh was murdered by Arabs three months earlier in a similar manner several kilometers away.

At approximately 10:20 PM, word came over the public loudspeakers in Beit El and Ofrah that the army was on its way to evacuate Givat Assaf - located on the strategic intersection at the Beit El turnoff on the Jerusalem-Ofrah-Shilo highway. Hundreds of residents immediately began making their way to the site, while at the same time phoning their friends in nearby areas and informing them of the grave situation.

Rumors were soon confirmed that the army was planning to close the roads shortly after midnight, and begin the actual evacuation between 1 and 3 AM. It also became clear that it was not the entire neighborhood of 14 families that was in danger, but only three caravans that had been recently placed there. The units in question are on Jewish-purchased land, but outside the neighborhood's demarcation lines as determined by the army.

At approximately 1 AM, the IDF Binyamin Brigade Commander arrived at the site, and met with local and Yesha leaders. Participating in the meeting, in addition to several Givat Assaf residents, were Binyamin Regional Council head Pinchas Wallerstein, Yesha leader Ze'ev Chever (Zambish), Beit El Mayor Moshe Rosenbaum, Kedumim Mayor Daniella Weiss, Assaf's mother Geulah Hershkovitz and Assaf's widow Hila Hershkovitz. In a calm and almost friendly meeting, it was decided that the army would not attempt an evacuation at present, but would rather give the residents until the morning to decide their next moves: Either to agree to place the caravans within the neighborhood, or to turn to the Supreme Court - or to face a forcible evacuation.

Zambish then suggested that both Rosenbaum and Wallerstein should explain the situation to the crowd, at which point Geulah Hershkovitz joked, "Until you decide whether this neighborhood belongs to Beit El or to the Binyamin Region, you'll both have to keep coming to these meetings."

Many of those who gathered recited the Selichot prayers until 1:30 AM, when word of the decision came, and the crowd began to disperse.

Over a year ago, Amanah, the development company of the Yesha [Judea, Samaria and Gaza Communities] Council, purchased land adjacent to Givat Assaf from several Arabs at a very high price. Yehuda Atlas, a resident of one of the three units, told Arutz-7,
"The purchase is 100% complete, except for the fact that Israel's Land Registry has dragged its feet in registering it. Amanah appealed to the Supreme Court to instruct the Land Registry to record this perfectly legal real estate deal - and the Court postponed discussing the matter for another three months... We moved three units here, because the land is ours without a doubt. We paid good money for it."

The story has so far continued anti-climactically, in that the morning deadline has come and gone and the army has not arrived to hear the residents' decision. A petition to the Supreme Court is still under consideration, but residents are not concerned that the army will return this evening: "It is too close to the Sabbath," one said. "The bottom line is that because so many people came last night, the army backed off."

Earlier yesterday, IDF troops succeeded in dismantling two Yesha outposts deemed "unauthorized." They first removed three housing units from Nofei Nechemia near Tapuach, some 20 miles north of Jerusalem. Police arrested four protestors during the dismantling of the units. Later, army forces removed caravans from the Gidonim outpost near the Shomron community of Itamar.