Israeli Settlers Reject Compromise

AMONA, West Bank (AP) -- Residents of the West Bank settlement outpost of Amona are bracing for a forced evacuation after rejecting a final compromise to voluntarily leave their homes.

They said on Thursday the government offer didn't meet the needs of all families there. Other settlers have arrived in solidarity.

Amona is the largest of about 100 unauthorized outposts — erected without permission but generally tolerated by the Israeli government — that dot the West Bank.

In 2014, Israel's Supreme Court ordered Amona to be evacuated, after it determined the outpost was built on private Palestinian land, giving the government until this Dec. 25 to tear down the outpost's 50 trailer homes. The outpost, built in the 1990s, stretches out over a rugged, grassy hilltop and looks out across the valley onto Palestinian villages.

(KA)