JERUSALEM, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered security forces to evacuate immediately the Palestinians who have gathered in the controversial area near Jerusalem, according to a statement issued Saturday from Prime Minister's Bureau.
The statement said Netanyahu would ask High Court to withdraw the injunction which is delaying the evacuation.
Until the High Court responds to the eviction, the prime minister ordered to close roads to this area in order to prevent gatherings. Under this circumstance, the area has been declared by the Israeli side as a closed military zone.
On Friday, some Palestinian activists installed dozens of tents between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem, challenging a six-week-old Israeli decision to build thousands of houses for Jewish settlers.
The Palestinians consider the area part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but Israel repudiates the possibility of sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians, who seek its eastern part as a future capital.
One of the activists named Abu Rahma said they will not evacuate and will "defend" what they called Bab Al-Shams Village " at any price." The activists' move aims at "boosting the Palestinian existence on the land that Israel wants to seize for isolating Jerusalem from the West Bank," according to Abu Rahma.
Israel decided to develop E1 to the east of Jerusalem after the United Nations agreed to upgrade the Palestinians' status to a non- member observer state on Nov. 29 last year. The decision sparked an international outcry.
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