Police clash with Jewish settlers as squatters forced from West Bank city

ISRAELI police yesterday evacuated dozens of Jewish squatters who took over a Palestinian home in the West Bank city of Hebron, in an important first test for Israel’s new government and its plans to uproot tens of thousands of settlers.

The clearing of the three-storey building was over in under three hours and encountered no serious resistance. The operation was in marked contrast to the violent evacuation of part of a tiny West Bank outpost in February, when more than 200 police and teenage protesters were injured.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was widely criticised for his handling of that operation while heading a caretaker government.

Yesterday morning police stormed the building after using a saw to remove a barricaded metal door. They appealed to the settlers — some with toddlers and babies — to leave peacefully, and some agreed, but others had to be dragged out.

In all, three squatter families and 27 young sympathisers from the Hebron area were removed from the building, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said. Nineteen security forces were injured, and 17 settlers were arrested, he said.

Avi Harush, one of the police commanders for the operation, said shortly after the evacuation began that it would proceed slowly because the three-story building was very dark, and the stairwell very narrow.

“There are children inside, even babies,” Harush told Israel Radio. “We don’t want one hair on their head to be hurt.”

Hebron, a city holy to Jews and Muslims, is home to about 160,000 Palestinians and some 500 ultranationalist Jewish settlers who live in heavily fortified enclaves.

Three settler couples and their eight children moved into an abandoned home near the settler enclave of Avraham Avinu about a month ago, presenting documents allegedly showing they had rented the property from its Palestinian owner.

Dozens of young supporters had also gathered at the house by this morning to reinforce the settler families’ resistance.