Feature: West Bank settlement showdown

The quiet, narrow, curvy road that leads to the Jewish settlement of Amona is misleading.

Only at the end of it, the muddy road is dotted with posters critical of the Israeli government, warning of its demise should an eviction occur.

But in a last minute turn of events, scenes of scuffles between Jewish settlers and Israeli forces have been evaded -- for now.

Hundreds of Amona residents were preparing themselves for a court ordered expulsion set to take place by Dec. 25.

Days before the deadline, the residents accepted a government plan to move them to a nearby plot which the Israeli government said is not privately owned.

The Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu skirmished to find a solution that avoids a violent expulsion.

For those currently living in Amona, the ordeal symbolizes the betrayal of the government they voted for in order to prevent such cases and further enhance the settlements.

For Palestinians, the sprawling caravans and Israeli government funded infrastructure is a constant reminder of a growing obstacle to their coveted statehood.

In 2014, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the outpost settlement is illegal and must be evicted by the end of December 2016. This came after years of petitions and deliberations.

The eight Palestinian petitioners convinced Israel's highest court that the land is theirs, with the Israeli government confirming that the settlement was built on privately owned Palestinian land.

The court's ruling put the government led by Netanyahu in an uncomfortable position.

Netanyahu leads a right-wing government which supports Israel's settlement of the West Bank, which was captured by Israel from Jordan during the 1967 Mideast War.

Amona's residents have now agreed to move to an adjacent hill which Israel has ruled "abandoned property", land that was abandoned by its Palestinian owners prior to and after the 1967 war.

The government has reportedly agreed to build the settlers new homes and public buildings.

This is a complicated interpretation of the law. Yesh Din, an Israeli organization dealing with human rights in the West Bank, represents the Palestinians in the Amona case. It has also helped Palestinians file a petition against the attempted use of nearby land for the relocation of the outpost.

But for Elad Ziv, a resident of Amona for the past 18 years, the law is not the main issue.

"These two and a half dunams (about 0.6 acres) that someone claims ownership of but has not proven that ownership -- one does not take apart people's lives for that. You do not make people refugees in their own country," he said.

"What we see is that the government of Israel is doing everything to circumvent the ruling by the Supreme Court rather than implement it," said Attorney Neta Patrick, the executive director of Yesh Din.

"We are challenging all these solutions, we consider them, each for its own reasons to be illegal," she adds.

The scenes of a right wing Israeli government forcefully evicting settlers from the West Bank may very well have translated into an electoral beating for Netanyahu and his main coalition partner, the Jewish home party.

The majority of the Netanyahu-led coalition believe that it is Israel's biblical right to populate the West Bank with Jewish settlers.

Nir Aviv, a 40-year-old Israeli from a nearby settlement, also came to Amona to support its residents.

When asked what would happen to the government, he said an evacuation would be the end of it.

"A lie will not last. Those who go against the will of the lord, they will not last," said Aviv.

Perhaps this is the main reason that Netanyahu and his coalition partners went out of their way to appease their constituents.

The construction of a new settlement will most certainly spark renewed international criticism towards Israel.

Sitting outside his home, looking at acres of green land dotted with Israeli settlements and neighboring Palestinian villages, Elad Ziv said he will not vote for the Jewish home party again.

It is such sentiment that Netanyahu is trying to avoid.

His government has recently begun promoting a bill in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, intended to retroactively legalize such outposts like Amona.

Dubbed the regulation bill, it is highly unlikely that it will pass the test of Israel's Supreme Court.

It is an attempt to find a loophole that will make settlements built on privately owned Palestinian land kosher and appease the right-wing voters.

"It's wrongful, it's immoral, it's illegal and it shouldn't be promoted through the Knesset. People came, they built their homes, without a permit, they built it on someone else land and now they are going to just receive a carte blanche saying that it's OK that they are there," said Atty. Patrick.

Even if the bill passes, it will be too late for the residents of Amona, who have agreed to move.

The picturesque vineyards that surround the outpost are not a testimony to a violent eviction that took place in 2006 after a previous ruling by the High Court ordered the homes to be demolished.

For the Palestinians and the international community, any Jewish presence in the West Bank is currently illegal.

The Palestinians consider the West Bank an integral part of their future state, together with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

However, Elad Ziv is convinced the settlers have the upper hand.

"We will be the ones who determine what will be in this country. We were here from the first human being and we will be here till the complete redemption, we are the people of Israel," he said with conviction.

As long as the prolonged stalemate in negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians remains, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are here to stay. Endit