Israeli security forces Thursday began evicting Jewish inhabitants from a disputed building in the West Bank city of Hebron, with injuries reported during the ongoing process.
Local TV Channel 10 showed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops and police officers have gathered around the four-storey building and were carrying inhabitants out of the house, which Israel's Supreme Court ordered its occupants to evacuate last month.
The footage did not show a violent confrontation outside the house, but Israeli sources said that about 20 injuries have so far been reported among both the security forces and hundreds of house occupants, who had vowed to resist any forcible evacuation.
The operation came shortly after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak failed to reach a compromise with settler representatives on the issue and stressed that the house, whose ownership is contested between its Palestinian owner and Jewish purchaser, will be evacuated and guarded by the IDF until the dispute is solved.
Israel's Supreme Court ordered on Nov. 16 that occupants of the building should leave the house within 72 hours, or the police would be authorized to force them out, a ruling condemned by right-wing lawmakers and settlement leaders. The Jewish inhabitants defied the order and the deadline passed without a forcible eviction.
Since then, radical settlers have been flowing into the already volatile area, and tensions between them and both Palestinian residents and Israeli security forces have been mounting. Israeli police has arrested tens of rioters.
"Citizens must accept the state's authority," local daily Ha' aretz quoted Barak as saying on Thursday. "We will not allow extreme elements to undermine the authority of the state and its foundation."
On Wednesday, caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also reiterated that the disputed house would be evacuated and that he will not allow anyone to act against Israeli democracy, saying that "the Palestinians are also people with rights and heritage."
It is still unknown how long the eviction will take. Yet in light of the operation, Barak has warned that Israel might witness a wave of settler violence across the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Ha'aretz quoted unnamed sources as saying that settler leaders were planning violent confrontations throughout the area to keep security forces distracted during the evacuation of the Hebron house.
Source:Xinhua
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