Palestinians protested today against a rampage by Jewish settlers in response to Israel's eviction of Jews from a
disputed building in Hebron, and Israel deployed extra forces to contain the unrest.
Palestinian youths burned tyres in Hebron and threw stones at Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, witnesses said.
Violence spread to another West Bank town where Palestinians said settlers torched olive orchards, a day after settlers shot and wounded three Palestinians in anger at the removal of Jewish families from a building occupied in defiance of a court order.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki accused the settlers of "waging war" on Palestinians and urged the United Nations Security Council to take up the issue. Malki told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah that settlers were taking advantage of a power vacuum since Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent resignation in a corruption investigation.
Mr Olmert is staying on as caretaker premier with limited power until a February 10th Israeli election. Until then, Israel seems "too weak to take any action against settlers", Mr Malki said.
Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedman called the settlers' assaults a "shocking pogrom" and told Israel's Channel One television "I regret very much the security forces weren't prepared to prevent" them.
Robert Serry, the UN envoy for the Middle East, issued a statement saying he was "concerned about the potential escalation". He demanded "an immediate end to the settler attacks and restraint and calm from all parties".
Mr Serry also urged "vigilance from the Israeli authorities to ensure that the events of yesterday are not repeated".
Hebron has long been a flashpoint, where 650 Jewish settlers live in fortified enclaves guarded by Israeli troops in a city of 180,000 Palestinians.
Palestinians and Western countries see the dozens of Jewish settlements Israel has built in the West Bank since capturing it in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war as a key obstacle to peace efforts.
Tensions have flared anew in Hebron since settlers defied a November 16th court order to vacate a house they said they had bought from a Palestinian man who denied ever selling it.
Israel sent in club-wielding troops to remove a dozen settler families from the building yesterday, after days ofstone-throwing protests there between Palestinians and settlers.
The Jewish state reinforced security in Hebron by deploying 500 riot police today, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Some restrictions were also imposed on Palestinians. Mr Rosenfeld said Palestinians under 45 were barred from attending Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to prevent any violence from spreading there.
Some violence was reported today but there were no reports of injuries.
Palestinian witnesses said settlers set fire to hundreds of olive trees near the town of Qalqilya on Friday, near the scene of similar torchings yesterday.
Palestinians said settlers had erected makeshift roadblocks on several roads in the territory yesterday, blocking their travel.
Israeli border police stood guard outside the padlocked disputed house in Hebron today, allowing settlers in only to remove their belongings from the building.
Faiz Rajabi, the building's owner, said he had not yet regained access. "I am waiting to get my house back," he told television stations.
Reuters