Clashes erupt as Israeli police clear settlers

OUTPOST – Jewish hardliners were dragged kicking and screaming out of houses in the occupied West Bank yesterday as Israeli security forces stormed an unauthorised settlement.

Flour, paint and water were hurled at the massed ranks of the border police as they moved in to clear out hundreds of settlers who had barricaded themselves inside and on the roofs of nine houses in the settlement outpost of Amona, close to Ramallah. Around 2 000 settlers had assembled at Amona in a bid to thwart the evacuation, which was given final clearance by the supreme court yesterday morning.But they were heavily outnumbered by around 6 000 soldiers and border police.After getting the final go-ahead from the supreme court, the forces pushed their way past a line of settlers and broke the windows of the houses in order to gain entry.They also used step-ladders and bulldozers to reach the roofs of the one-storey buildings in scenes reminiscent of last summer’s hugely contentious evacuation of settlers from the Gaza Strip.The settlers on the rooftops used wooden poles to force back the security forces who protected themselves with riot shields.The ambulance service said around 80 people were injured in clashes between the settlers and the baton-wielding police, including the ultra-nationalist MP and former cabinet minister Efi Eitam.Most of the injuries were minor although one policeman was seriously wounded.Arye Eldad, another right-wing MP who was at Amona, accused the police of “treating us worse than the Arabs.”Amona is one of dozens of wildcat settlements, all of which should be dismantled by Israel under the terms of a US-backed peace plan known as the roadmap.Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is aware that Israel’s foot-dragging on the outposts has irritated relations with Washington and also knows that the general public largely favours a firm line towards the radical settlers.The outposts usually consist of a handful of structures, often no more than caravans, inhabited by Jews who regard the whole of the West Bank as their promised land.- Nampa-AFPAround 2 000 settlers had assembled at Amona in a bid to thwart the evacuation, which was given final clearance by the supreme court yesterday morning.But they were heavily outnumbered by around 6 000 soldiers and border police.After getting the final go-ahead from the supreme court, the forces pushed their way past a line of settlers and broke the windows of the houses in order to gain entry.They also used step-ladders and bulldozers to reach the roofs of the one-storey buildings in scenes reminiscent of last summer’s hugely contentious evacuation of settlers from the Gaza Strip.The settlers on the rooftops used wooden poles to force back the security forces who protected themselves with riot shields.The ambulance service said around 80 people were injured in clashes between the settlers and the baton-wielding police, including the ultra-nationalist MP and former cabinet minister Efi Eitam.Most of the injuries were minor although one policeman was seriously wounded.Arye Eldad, another right-wing MP who was at Amona, accused the police of “treating us worse than the Arabs.”Amona is one of dozens of wildcat settlements, all of which should be dismantled by Israel under the terms of a US-backed peace plan known as the roadmap.Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is aware that Israel’s foot-dragging on the outposts has irritated relations with Washington and also knows that the general public largely favours a firm line towards the radical settlers.The outposts usually consist of a handful of structures, often no more than caravans, inhabited by Jews who regard the whole of the West Bank as their promised land.- Nampa-AFP