Israel's high court Monday rejected a government bid to delay the evacuation of a wildcat Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, in a fresh challenge for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Amona outpost is under a court order to be evacuated by December 25 since it was built on private Palestinian land, but right-wingers in Netanyahu's cabinet have called for the around 40 families living there to be allowed to remain. Whether the Netanyahu government moves ahead with the demolition of Amona has been seen as a test case of whether it will heed international calls to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank.
