The evacuation of the nine houses in the community of Ofra began Tuesday morning, after appeals against the demolition orders were denied.
The Supreme Court rejected Monday a petition by residents who requested their houses be sealed, rather than destroyed, in the hopes that the recently passed Regulation Law may be used to retroactively normalize their status. The government, however, has said that no retroactive application of the law will be made.
Police forces are preparing for protests and opposition on the part of residents.
Vardit Kfir, whose house in Ofra was evacuated this morning, told Army Radio that residents feel betrayed by the government. "We feel abandoned, the Jewish Home party and the right wing has not kept its word towards us, they promised things and nobody kept their word." She added that "we are not leaving our houses, they are our houses. This place is ours and the house is ours.The Supreme Court will not decide who the Land of Israel belongs too, especially as there is no known owner and the fiction of 'private land' is a misnomer. We are being evicted from our houses for the sake of an imaginary owner. Is that justice?"
"We know what the result will be," added Kfir. "We're still here to raise an outcry and say - the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel."