The Amona community, long viewed as a red line for activists from Yehuda and Shomron is slated to be destroyed do to Arab claims that they in fact own the land. The key with Amona is to ignore the noise coming from the Knesset and the two bills in committee there. At the end of the day they will be removed by the Prime Minister. The real solution rests in the 1950 Absentees’ Property Law. This law allows the government to buy the land of those who fled their property to enemy countries.
Newly appointed Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman has the power to implement this. Sources say he is looking into the very possibility of doing so in Amona’s case.
Most observers believe that if Amona would fall, the coalition would be imperiled and the country would move to new elections. In 2006 Amona was the site of intense police brutality against protesters seeking to block house demolitions there.
If Lieberman is successful in using the 1950 law to solve this issue, the precedent will be replayed across the Judea and Samaria.
So the question this summer, what kind of Amona will we have? Will it be a 2006 redux or will Amona will serve as a catalyst to move the country forward and finally find a solution to conflicts on property ownership in Judea and Samaria?