The following statement was written by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) on the eve of the evacuation of Amona:
Despite our best efforts, despite the sleepless nights and long days we invested, we did not manage to prevent the unnecessary, painful, and cruel destruction of Amona.
Today is a hard day. A very hard day. Forty families are being expelled from their homes in Israel's heartland.
We are still waiting to hear the Supreme Court's ruling on the draft plan for Amona's relocation, and we hope it will be possible to move at least part of Amona to adjacent plots of land.
It may be difficult to see it right now, during these moments when our eyes are filled with tears, but despite everything, despite the enormous pain and the awful scenes, we have to remember that Amona is a milestone.
Amona is a milestone, because its heroic residents managed, fifty years after Judea and Samaria were freed, and twenty years after the pitiful Oslo Accords were signed, to change the ship's direction.
They succeeded, because their bravery in dealing with their own troubles forced us to stop abandoning the legal arena to the extreme leftists. They forced us to create a legal alternative which strengthens our moral obligations and our Jewish identity, as well as our legal and moral rights to build Jewish towns in all of Israel.
In the merit of Amona, we grabbed the bull by its horns and began fighting the leftist's legal weapons and their "lawfare," by building alternative legal options, which will finally allow Jewish settlers to live their lives in peace, without fear of being sued for no other purpose than to destroy their homes and harm the rights of Jews to live in Israel.
Because of Amona, for the first time in many years, a new town will be built in Judea and Samaria.
Yes, we lost the battle for Amona. In these difficult days, it's hard to see the light shining in the distance. The price these forty families paid is too much to bear.
But Amona is a significant milestone on the path to ultimate victory and the right to live freely in our land. In this fight, we will win, because the spirit of Amona's residents compels us all to do so.