Israeli settlers clash with police over Eviction

Israeli police today 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 a caretaker government.

This 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. Israeli authorities later determined the documents were forged, Harush said.

The Supreme Court had initially ordered the squatters removed by Friday, but then postponed the eviction because of the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday.

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

Hours before the eviction began, officers and settlers clashed as officers cleared a crowd of protesters gathered outside the home. Settlers inside threw stones, bottles and firebombs at security forces, police said.

Reinforcements were called in after the clashes broke out, police said. All told, about 700 police, reinforced by 1,000 soldiers, were mobilised for the operation.

Rosenfeld said border police would increase the number of patrols in the Hebron area over the next few days to maintain public order.

Elsewhere, a 55-year-old Palestinian civilian was killed in Israeli shelling of northern Gaza today, Palestinian hospital officials said.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment.

Israel has been shelling the area in recent weeks to try to curb Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. The artillery fire has killed other civilians in the past, including a 60-year-old farmer on Saturday.

In Gaza City, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the militant Hamas group failed to resolve their deepening differences during a late-night meeting on Saturday but agreed to talk again today.

The two men met for four hours to try to end disputes over their division of powers, and policy toward Israel. Hamas’ refusal to disarm and recognise Israel has led to Western and Israeli economic sanctions that have financially crippled the Palestinian government.

The financial crunch has left the Hamas-led government unable to pay the salaries of 165,000 government workers for the past two months. The Palestinian Authority is the largest employer in the West Bank and Gaza, so its failure to pay salaries hits the Palestinian territories hard.

On Saturday, hundreds of Palestinians staged strikes and demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza to demand payment of the overdue salaries, in the first public signs of discontent with the government’s handling of the international financial squeeze.