Amona residents to PM: Start construction or we'll do it ourselves
In a letter to Netanyahu, residents of the former illegal outpost are calling on the prime minister to honor his commitment toward the community and immediately begin construction on a new settlement.
Former residents of the illegal outpost of Amona have demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin construction on an alternative settlement, or they will take matters into their own hands.
A month after the evacuation of Amona, the settlers demanded Netanyahu to clarify plans for the construction of a new settlement, as was agreed upon.
"It has been two months since President Trump was inaugurated. Was this whole performance (agreeing to build a new community) a falsehood designed for you to gain time or do you really love settlements? Amona was your test case. There is no legal or political obstacle preventing a new community in the Trump era," the settlers said in a letter to the prime minister.
The letter continued with a threat from the former residents that if construction does not begin by the end of the month, they will build their new homes themselves.
"If your promises to build a new community do not materialize and work does not begin by March 31, then there is no escaping us going to new land to realize your commitments to us, and we will establish ourselves in a new community," they wrote.
The decision to send the scathing letter was made after residents claim agreements were not honored following the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump's Israel advisor, Jason Greenblatt.
"As a businessman, President Trump knows his word is bond and commitments need to be respected," they wrote. "Greenblatt is also a businessman who holds the same values. A man's word is his honor. We are looking to you and at you."
Meanwhile, members of the National Union faction of Bayit Yehudi, led by Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel and MK Bezalel Smotrich, have decided to boycott a team-building activity for coalition members Wednesday to protest Netanyahu's inaction on building a new settlement for Amona evacuees.
In a statement, Ariel and Smotrich said “we cannot celebrate or party with the coalition when our brothers and sisters from Amona continue to wallow in appalling conditions and the prime minister refuses to honor his promise to build them a new community.”
Amona residents praised the move and called on other right-wing parliamentarians to follow suit.
“While we have been on a hunger strike for the past 14 days outside the Prime Minister's Residence, after two months of living in dormitory conditions mourning the demolition of our community and waiting for the government to make a decision, the prime minister is holding gala receptions and celebrations for his friends instead of worrying about honoring his most basic commitments and immediately approving the creation of a new community for people that he evicted from the homes they lived in for 20 years. Where is the shame?"
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TPS contributed to this story.
(Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg and Yaara Shalom)
