Residents of the Mitzpe Kramim community in the Binyamin region of Samaria protested on Sunday outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, after the Supreme Court announced that the community's future would be decided on March 16, the day before the 20th Knesset elections.
Mitzpe Kramim was originally part of Kohav Hashahar, and was moved to its current location by the Israeli government itself, after an agreement on outposts was signed by the state under then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000 and then-Central Command leader Moshe Ya'alon.
In 2011, a petition was filed alleging that the community was established on private land, despite the fact that the nature of the land was apparently cleared by the state in signing the 2000 agreement.
But then as part of the answer to the petition, the state announced that indeed there was a mistake, and despite the fact that the community is in itself built on state-approved land, further inquiry revealed that, apparently, some private lands had been misappropriated in the deal.
Therefore, the state decided to amend the law to exclude Mitzpe Kramim - and residents of the community are being forced to pay the price for the mistake of an entire government.
"(Prime Minister Binyamin) Netanyahu must prevent the destruction of Mitzpe Kramim," one protester stated. "We expect him to act in a prudent and sensible manner and not to pass us by - the residents here are abiding by law, the errors are the state's."