Middle East: Israeli police stormed a Palestinian house in the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday to evict Jewish settlers accused of squatting there, in an early test for the new government of prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Police persuaded three settler families, including women and children, to leave, but had to drag or carry out two dozen teenage supporters who were holed up inside the house, near a heavily fortified Jewish settlement in the biblical city.
Security forces scuffled with scores of settlers outside after some threw petrol bombs from the roof of the three-storey building and others hurled rocks. Police arrested 19 settlers, while 17 policemen were lightly injured.
"We will respond immediately to any case where there is a violation of the law and any attempt to determine facts on the ground," Mr Olmert had told the first meeting of his new cabinet.
The house was not within the enclave of Hebron that Israel recognises as a Jewish settlement, and its evacuation offered a taste of what may happen if Mr Olmert implements his plan to impose final borders for Israel by 2010.
In the absence of peace talks with the Palestinians, the plan calls for dozens of isolated Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank to be evacuated, while blocks are retained and expanded behind a fortified border.
The settlers moved into the house, saying it had been bought from its Palestinian owners legally. Palestinian groups denied this, suspecting an attempt to expand the settlement.
Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the settlers to be evicted pending a ruling on ownership. After the eviction there was relief among Palestinian neighbours.
"The last month has been very difficult for us . . . I wish all the settlers in Hebron would leave," said Umm Nemer, a mother of eight who lives next door.
- (Reuters)