Evyatar
EvyatarSraya Diamant/Flash90

Israel’s Defense Ministry is offering a compromise arrangement to the residents of a Samaria community slated for demolition, ensuring a continued presence at the town’s location and providing the possibility of the residents’ return after their evacuation.

As thousands of Israeli security personnel prepare for the evacuation of Evyatar, an unauthorized outpost community established near Tapuah Junction in Samaria following a deadly terrorist attack in 2013 and reestablished after the drive-by shooting attack at the same location this year, a delegation of lawmakers from the Shas party visited the town, offering their support to residents.

Shas chairman and former Interior Minister Aryeh Deri penned a letter to Defense Minister Benny Gantz (Blue and White) expressing his opposition to the evacuation of Evyatar.

Gantz responded to Deri’s letter, saying the roughly 50 families who reside in Evyatar settled the site without any approval from authorities.

“They entered the area under the cover of Operation Guardian of the Walls, not in a legal fashion, and without any approval from the relevant authorities; the law says they must be evacuated from there,” wrote Gantz.

The Defense Minister added that he is working to reach an accord with residents paving the way for a voluntary evacuation, avoiding the need for a large security operation to evict residents.

The deal offered to residents would include, in exchange for their voluntary self-evacuation from the town, assurances that IDF soldiers would be stay at the site in place of the residents.

In addition, the Ministry will conduct a careful examination of the ownership of the land in question. If the land is in fact found to be state owned, as residents claim, they will be allowed to return.