West Bank settlers engage in bloody clashes with army

ANGRY settlers got into bloody fistfights yesterday with soldiers and police trying to dismantle the West Bank settlement outpost of Mitzpeh Yitzhar, the first inhabited outpost being removed under a new US- backed peace plan.

The year-old outpost consisted of four tents and two makeshift buildings of corrugated metal and concrete and had about 10 residents. But about 200 people from nearby Jewish settlements converged on the hilltop on Thursday morning. They blocked the road leading to Mitzpeh Yitzhar with cars, burning tyres and sharp objects to hinder the authorities.

Settlers also set fire to underbrush and threw purple paint on armoured bulldozers, limiting the visibility of the soldiers trying to make their way to the hilltop.

As part of the road map peace plan, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, Israel must take down unauthorised settlement outposts in the West Bank set up over the last two years.

Officials from the Peace Now group, which opposes settlements, says there are 62 such outposts and a total of more than 100 set up since 1996.

Settler leaders have sued the government to prevent removal of inhabited outposts, but courts have rejected many of their arguments. Mitzpeh Yitzhar is the first inhabited outpost to be dismantled. Ten uninhabited outposts were removed last week.

Between 300 and 400 soldiers, border police and civilian police got into running fistfights with the protesting settlers, bloodying some of them.

The soldiers and police were mainly unarmed, with most carrying only the knives they needed to remove the settlers’ tents.

After making it past the roadblocks, they began to rip down the tents with the knives and their bare hands.

The settlers let out occasional battle cries and charged a the ring of soldiers encircling the main tent. The authorities dragged several of the settlers out of the tent.

Yosi Peli, a settler from the nearby Yitzhar settlement, said that despite the large contingent of troops, the protesters remained committed to retaining the outpost.

“This is our land, our home,” he said. “Tomorrow we will be here again on this hill or on other hills,” he said. According to Peli, there had been minor confrontations at the outpost which have left two settlers injured.

Peli showed journalists list of rules of engagement provided by the settlers’ council. Demonstrators were advised to avoid violence and to use passive resistance. But Peli said: “When someone is trying to take you from your home it’s difficult to know what will be.”

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he plans to travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Friday in the hope of restoring momentum to the US-led efforts to bring peace to the region.

He announced the visit before flying to Jordan after stopping in Bangladesh. After a visit to Jerusalem for talks with Israelis, Powell said he will go to another location - probably Jericho - to meet Palestinian officials.