Amona

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Amona (Hebrew: עמונה‎) is a communal settlement and Israeli settlement in the central West Bank's southern Samaria region, on a hill overlooking Ofra. Located within the municipal boundaries of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, the village was founded in 1997 on a barren hilltop and inhabited by young people from Ofra.

By late 2005 there were some thirty families living in Amona, usually categorized as an outpost since it has never been fully approved by the Israeli government, even though several separate government ministries have contributed to its growth. Its name is derived from the Book of Joshua 18:24, where it is named Kfar HaAmmonai, literally, Village of the Amonites.

[edit] Confrontation

In 2005, the Amana settlement organisation completed the construction of nine permanent homes for some of the families. In response to this, the Peace Now movement petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court, demanding that the houses be demolished since they were allegedly built on Palestinian land, even that no Palestinian claim to own the land^{[citation needed]}. The Attorney General’s office then gave the orders to destroy the buildings. At approximately 3:00 AM on February 1, 2006, a petition was successfully filed with the Supreme Court to delay the demolition until a special hearing at around 8:00 AM. The Supreme Court heard the case, requested time to consider the situation, and issued a 2-1 verdict to go ahead and destroy the nine homes.

Ten thousand Israeli Police, Israeli Border Police, and IDF soldiers appeared in Amona to carry out the demolition and to secure the troops involved in the operation. They faced an estimated 4,000 Israeli protesters, one thousand actively protesting inside and around the houses, and another few thousand in the surrounding area. The protesters mostly consisted of youths from across the country, but especially from nearby settlements and schools, some of which had fortified themselves inside the homes and on the roofs in an effort to block, delay, or protest the order being carried out. The violent clashes that ensued surpassed any previous clashes between the security forces of the State of Israel and Jewish civilians, including the 2005 unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip and destruction of the Gush Katif settlements.

Demonstrators sat in front of the homes linking arms and legs after the roofs and rooms inside the homes were filled. According to the demonstrators and confirmed by video, they were beaten repeatedly over the head and body with clubs by Israeli security forces, and some were trampled by riot horses specially trained and imported from Germany (These horses are trained out of their natural fear of running into crowds). Water, rocks, sand, paint, and pieces of twisted metal were concurrently thrown on the security forces from the roof. Next, Israeli police special forces officers were raised to the roofs, where they continued striking the protesters with their clubs and fists as well as kicking them. After Home Front Command disaster rescue units breached the barricaded houses, Riot police entered the houses and forcefully removed the protesters sitting inside, videos documenting extreme violence employed against passive protesters sitting on the floor in typical non-violent civil disobedience style. Numerous reports emerged later of girls who suffered various forms of verbal and physical abuse from the police while being removed from the houses. After a few hours the houses were destroyed.

Over 300 people were injured, the majority of them protesters. Among the injured were three Knesset Members: Effi Eitam was hospitalized after being trampled by a horse, Arie Eldad suffered a broken arm; and Nissan Slomianski. In addition to injuries that were treated on-site, buses, Army Humveess and CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters were needed to evacuate the injured to hospitals for the more serious injuries, many of them head-wounds, some requiring immediate surgery.

In March 2006, the Knesset parliamentary inquiry into the events at Amona determined that the police had employed excessive brutality, striking protesters with clubs and charging them with horses. Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra was criticised for preventing police commanders from testifying at the hearings. The committee also found contradictions in the testimonies of the Army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and the Internal Security Minister. Despite these findings, no resignations followed. In May 2006 Israeli President Moshe Katsav met with some of the protesters injured at Amona and stated that he would ask for a renewal of the investigation, a renewal that has yet to occur.

Many on both the left and the right are warning of the danger of repetitions of the tragedy of Amona in case the Realignment plan of evicting the West Bank will be put into action.

[edit] External links

• A video montage of the Amona expulsion
• Another video montage of the Amona expulsion, this one slightly older (downloadable, link on the page)
• A collection of videos of the Amona expulsion and demolition of the 9 houses
• A large collection of photos of the Amona expulsion
• Were settler girls sexually assaulted?
• Extensive collection of video and photo links as well as interviews
• Photo Essay: 100,000 Protest Amona Police Brutality
• Amona Website