Israel begins demolition of Amona settlement
Following the evacuation of the West Bank outpost last week, the government will raze the former settlement to the ground
Israel has started demolishing buildings at a West Bank settlement outpost evacuated last week amid clashes between settlers and security forces.
Government spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said officers are securing Amona to “prevent incidents”.
Israel’s supreme court ruled in 2014 that Amona was built on private Palestinian land and must be dismantled.
However, settlers resisted the evacuation and clashed with police enforcing the law.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu later announced that a new settlement would be established – the first in two decades – to make up for Amona.
Most of the international community views such settlements as illegal and a hindrance to a two-state solution to the conflict.
However, Donald Trump’s US administration is perceived as sympathetic to settlements, an issue which caused friction between Mr Netanyahu and former American leader Barack Obama.
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