There is a feeling of cautious optimism surrounding the announced agreement that residents are told will permit them to remain on the mountain when Amona is relocated.

Residents of the community met on Wednesday morning 14 Kislev to hear the details of the deal reached between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Bayit Yehudi leader Minister Naftali Bennett, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

The government will begin preparing the groundwork a short distance from their current location, on the same hilltop and they will have a two-year period during which they will decide what they wish to do. If they decided to remain then the courts will be petitioned to remove the names of the absentee owners from the land, land that has not been claimed for decades, land which no one has taxes on for years, and this would be registered to Amona. City planners would then map out what can be done and the Office of the Attorney General would entertain legalizing the community.

Legal documentation will be issued and deadlines extended towards permitting setting up the area as the government has asked the High Court to grant a final 30-day extension from the 25 December 2016 deadline for the evacuation of

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)