Israeli troops begin evacuation of West Bank outpost

Thousands of troops in riot gear and on horseback clashed with hundreds of stone-throwing Jewish settlers behind barbed wire and on rooftops in the illegal West Bank settlement outpost of Amona today, after the Israeli Supreme Court cleared the way for demolition of nine homes at the site.

It was the first forced evacuation of Jewish settlers since last summer’s pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, and was on par with the most violent scenes of the Gaza pullout. Eleven police and protesters were injured, Israeli radio stations reported.

The evacuation was seen as a test for acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who has said he would act with determination against settlers violating the law.

In Amona, thick black smoke from burning tyres rose into the air. Settlers pelted troops with stones and rocks, paint-filled balloons and eggs. Club-wielding soldiers on horseback charged into the crowd and water cannons tried to push back protesters. Hundreds of settlers barricaded themselves on the rooftops of the nine homes, ringing the ledges with barbed wire. Bulldozers moved toward the building, as troops scuffled with protesters who linked arms.

About an hour into the confrontation, troops had reached the first home and began tearing down window shutters with crowbars. Throughout the clash, settlers showered the troops with stones and rocks.

Troops began moving into the outpost after Israel’s Supreme Court cleared the last hurdle to the evacuation this morning. Under the court order, nine homes built illegally on private Palestinian land are to be demolished. Several more temporary structures have been set up on state land.

Israel Yitzhak, the Israeli police commander in the West Bank, said he hoped settlers would not try to provoke the troops. “I hope they do not force us to use the means at our disposal,” he said. “I hope they will allow us to act. If they resist, we will use force.”

Since the mid-1990s, settlers have established dozens of unauthorised outposts to prevent the transfer of disputed land to the Palestinians. The Palestinians hope to set up a state in areas Israel captured in 1967, which include the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

Under the internationally backed “road map” peace plan, Israel has committed to dismantle about two dozen outposts but so far has taken little action. Amona is north of Jerusalem, near the Palestinian town of Ramallah.

About 6,000 Israeli security forces were mobilised to forcibly remove opponents to the demolition of the nine structures at Amona.

The army set up roadblocks Monday to prevent large-scale infiltrations into Amona. By yesterday morning, hundreds of opponents of the evacuation – most of them teenagers – had flooded into the hilltop community and the nearby settlement of Ofra.

Several youths laid barbed wire and cement blocks on the roofs of some of the nine permanent buildings in the outpost where they apparently planned to resist evacuation.