Riot police use teargas before dragging Jewish settlers from house in Palestinian district of West Bank city
Israeli riot police today dragged hundreds of militant Jewish settlers from a disputed house in the city of Hebron, in the first major such eviction on the West Bank for more than two years.
Security forces used teargas as they surrounded the three-storey property set on a hillside in a Palestinian district of Hebron. The settlers responded by throwing rocks and eggs.
It took the police about an hour to carry the more than 200 settlers from the house, each dragged away by teams of four officers. Around 20 people were injured, ambulance staff said, although most were not seriously hurt.
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The house, located near the Jewish settler community of Kiryat Arba, has become an important symbol for settler groups since around a dozen families occupied it in March 2007. Such groups believe all occupied Palestinian territories should be subsumed into a greater Israel.
The families said they bought it legally from the Palestinian owner, who denied the claim. Israel's supreme court ordered last month that the house should be cleared.
Since then, many other settlers have come to live in the home, covered with posters in Hebrew displaying slogans including "This land is our land" and "Human rights for Jews in Hebron".
The mayor of Kiryat Arba, Malichi Levinger, warned that the families would attempt to return. "I think we come back to this house. That is our goal for now," he said.
Nadia Matar, one of the leaders of those inside the house, who was among the last dragged out, said: "Shame on the government for using this force against us."
Today's action was the first major West Bank evacuation since Israeli security forces cleared parts of the Amona settlement in February 2006. Dozens of people were injured when riot police battled settlers.