Israel began dismantling and demolishing an illegal Jewish outpost in the occupied West Bank on Monday, four days after evicting its residents. A number of caravan-homes were carried away by cranes, while other buildings were demolished, an AFP reporter at the scene said. The fate of the outpost, which was built illegally on Palestinian land, had become a key battle in Israeli politics.
Pro-settlement groups, including parts of Israel's rightwing government, had sought to save it from demolition. However following a ruling by the Supreme Court, Israeli police last week dragged out the few hundred residents, as well as more than 1,000 hardcore supporters.
In total 32 police were injured during the evictions, with hardliners attacking police.
Amona is an offshoot of the Ofra settlement, one of the oldest in the occupied West Bank with a population of around 3,500.
Israel's parliament was to finalise on Monday a bill that would retroactively legalise several thousand Israeli settler homes built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank.
International law considers all settlements to be illegal, but Israel distinguishes between those it sanctions and those it does not, dubbed outposts.
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