The activists who took the lead in the struggle against the demolitions in Amona included many young people expelled from Gush Katif, some whose families left willingly and now regret it.
As the Supreme Court deliberates a Yesha Council proposal to voluntarily destroy, or "move" the permanent homes, young people take to the roofs of the threatened buildings and prepare to barricade themselves there.
Men and boy, women and girls, took to separate roofs. Hebrew banner reads: IDF - Army Defending Who?
Though the winding roads leading up to Amona remained clear, allowing the IDF and Border Police to enter the community easily, barricades of bricks and burning tires were lit ablaze between forces and the houses they intended to demolish.
IDF bulldozer clears away the burning tires and bricks to allow the demolition forces to pass through.
Once the forces, many wearing the black body-suits used in last summer's Gaza expulsion, got past the blockade, they rushed their ladders and riot equipment in,
Mounted police entered Amona, beating protestors indiscrimately with batons. Protestors begin to throw rocks at horses and riot police, successfully inducing temporary retreat.
Yesha Council member Tzviki Bar Chai greets the regional IDF commander warmly, discussing the events unfolding. Protestors were heard telling Bar-Chai not to get involved or "tell us how to struggle for the Land of Israel."
Yesha Council Chairman Bentzy Lieberman looks on as protestors fend off riot police trying to climb onto one of the roofs.
The IDF brings heavy machinery up from all directions. Scuffles break out with protestors on the hillsides as soldiers attempt to prevent activists from reaching Amona.
Despite the beatings by the mounted police, female activists lock arms and sit passively surrounding one of the threatened buildings.
Yassam riot police prepare to move in and remove the non-violent protestors.
Protestors dump sand on expulsion forces.
Yassam riot police amass in the area opposite the nine buildings slated for destruction.
Members of the IDF's Search & Rescue Unit, usually sent to foreign countries to assist them following natural disasters, participates in breaking into the nine homes, which activists barricaded themselves in. Hebrew reads "King David Lives On."
Forces prepare to break through a door into a home filled with youth locking arms in protest of the destruction of the structures.
Police break into room filled with young women, spraying glass on everyone inside by breaking windows with batons insteads of waiting for Search & Rescue equipment. Channel 10 aired video Wednesday evening of Yassam riot police hitting passive protestors
Yassam riot police are lifted up to the roofs on the bulldozers as ladders prove largely uneffective. The Hebrew reads: G-d is the King.
One of the nine buildings, with a placard reading "G-d is the King" is destroyed by heavy equipment.
A police officer is knocked unconscious.
An Arab D9 bulldozer driver hired by the Defense Ministry takes a break from demolishing one of the nine homes in Amona ordered destroyed by the Supreme Court following a petition from the Peace Now radical group.
One of the 'rooftop youths' waves a burnt Israeli flag. Some of the young men have not to be drafted to the IDF, seeking alternative ways to serve the country, volunteering in the Shomron on organic farms and building new communities.
(Photos: Yishai Fleisher and Ezra HaLevi)