Preempting protests, special forces commandeer buildings barricaded by Jewish settlers after court orders their destruction
Hundreds of Israel Police special forces stormed illegally constructed buildings in the West Bank settlement of Beit El early Tuesday morning in which settler demonstrators had barricaded themselves in protest of their demolition.
Dozens of Jewish settlers set up barbed wire and prepared piles of tires to burn on Monday in preparation for a protest against a Supreme Court’s decision to demolish buildings in the settlement’s Dreinoff neighborhood, Ynet news reported.
Shortly after 3 a.m., however, police arrived to clear out the demonstration in preparation of the buildings’ demolition. Protesters inside the neighborhood had to be removed forcefully by police, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests, according to Ynet.
Dozens of settlers arrived at the settlement, located north of Jerusalem, and others were expected to set up a tent city in the coming days to prevent the Supreme Court’s orders from being carried out.
“We came to build, not to be driven out,” settlers painted on one of the buildings slated for demolition.
“With my blood, over the land of Israel I will defend,” another sign declared.
Earlier this month the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration, which manages governmental matters in the West Bank, retroactively approved the settlement’s illegal construction, but the Supreme Court rejected the motion on Sunday.
Jewish Home Knesset members and settlement leaders sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this month over reports of a de facto West Bank construction freeze, threatening in a letter to Likud members to impose sanctions on the government.
The letter was the penned after an emergency meeting last week, convened in response to claims that the PM had decided to freeze settlement development in the West Bank, as well as the Supreme Court’s decision to demolish the Dreinoff neighborhood.
The human rights organization Yesh Din filed the case with the Supreme Court to get the Dreinoff neighborhood — named after its developer Meir Dreinoff — demolished. In their petition the group wrote, “This guidance system is designed, according to its stated purpose, to try and give carte blanche to illegal building, which is being carried out on private land, with no building permission and in violation of administrative orders.”
In response, residents of Beit El told Ynet news, “We are praying that they will not demolish here.”
Others added, “More friends from Samaria and other parts of the region have arrived and we will do anything to prevent the demolition.”
“Anything means anything,” one of the protesters added.
As reported by The Times of Israel