Amona
AmonaFlash 90

Amona residents, who are scheduled to be expelled from their homes at the end of the month and their houses destroyed, protested on Saturday evening the "absentee property solution" proposed by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

The solution would involve moving Amona residents to a nearby hill temporarily, and allowing them to "evacuate" themselves, instead of being forced to do so by the government.

In a letter sent to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, residents wrote that Mandelblit's solution was "nothing more than a suggestion to expel us in stages, and because of that, we are opposing it, just as we oppose the destruction of our town."

The residents said the Defense Ministry had allocated fifty million NIS for the move, and they oppose that, as well.

"It is simply absurd that the State of Israel is willing to spend fifty million shekel to move Amona's residents to a nearby hill that they will be allowed to live on for eight months only, after which the government will again spend money on expelling them. It's an enormous waste of fifty million shekel," they wrote.

"Why would you put so much money into a site that will be destroyed in another eight months? Don't you think that's a waste of the public's moneys?" the residents continued, insisting the Prime Minister pass the Regulation Law.

Netanyahu will meet Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) at 8pm on Saturday evening, to discuss the government crisis surrounding the Regulation Law.

The Jewish Home party has insisted the government pass the Regulation Law, despite Mandelblit's opposition to it.

Earlier on Saturday evening, Bennett contradicted reports claiming he was willing to erase Article 7 of the Regulation Law, which would allow it to retroactively legalize Amona as well, even though the High Court had already ruled on the matter.

"Despite reports to the contrary, there is no [compromise] agreement over the regulation of communities in Judea and Samaria," Bennett tweeted. "We expect the Regulation Law will pass in its entirety on Monday, as is obligated by the coalition agreement."

Sources in the coalition told Arutz Sheva on Saturday night that the chance Moshe Kachlon's party Kulanu would support the Regulation Law is slim, and efforts should therefore be concentrated on finding a solution to delay the destruction of Amona and pass the Regulation Law "possibly at a later point, when Trump enters the White House, and not while Obama is still president."