[Sephardi]

HEBRON, West Bank – Israeli security forces stormed a disputed house in the biblical city of Hebron on Thursday, dragging out some 250 settlers who barricaded themselves inside and hurled rocks, eggs and chemicals.

It was the first major West Bank evacuation since a violent 2006 confrontation that injured hundreds. Settlers attempted to go back into the four-story structure, but soldiers formed a human chain around the house to keep them from doing so.

Army spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovitz said the evacuation of the house, one of the most volatile flashpoints in the West Bank, was over in about 20 minutes.

The security forces took over the house in a surprise operation. They then began dragging out the people inside one by one, their hands and legs held by teams of two or four officers.

Scenes of violence played themselves out as some 600 soldiers and policemen started the evication. TV images showed two young girls punching and hitting soldiers. Security forces in full riot gear used stun grenades and tear gas to repel the settlers.

"This is an act of scoundrels, Jews evicting Jews from their homes," settler leader Daniella Weiss told Israel's Channel 10 TV.

Israel's rescue service said 20 people on both sides were hurt. One of the settlers sustained serious head wounds, and he was whisked into an ambulance on a stretcher. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld that a policeman was moderately injured after a chemical liquid was tossed in his face.

Nearby, fist fights broke out between settler youths and Palestinians in the area. Israeli rescue services deployed two helicopters along with a fleet of ambulances to the scene to evacuate the wounded.

Right-wing activists blocked the main road to Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon, and scuffled with police who tried to disperse them. Rosenfeld said police arrested 11 rioters who flung stones at police forces.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he ordered the army to evict the settlers after all attempts to persuade them to leave peacefully failed. Barak had met with settler leaders earlier in the day and the sides failed to reach a compromise.

"This could have been done peacefully and legally. Instead Barak chose violence," said Danny Dayan, leader of the Yesha settler council. "This surprised us completely. He threw a match in a pile of gun powder."

The lightening-quick raid drew immediate reaction from across the Israeli political spectrum. Ultranationalist lawmaker Arieh Eldad accused Barak of using the army for political purposes. Barak's Labor party was also holding its primaries on Thursday.

"No doubt this came too late but it's better late than never," countered dovish lawmaker Avshalom Vilan. "This was a test for the rule of law and it shows there is one law for everybody for people in Hebron, Tel Aviv and everywhere."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said: "In Israel the rule of law prevails and not the rule of the vigilante."

More than a dozen settler families took over the house in March 2007 and remained there despite a series of eviction orders. About 600 of Israel's most extreme settlers have taken up residence in the center of Hebron, living in the midst of 170,000 Palestinians.

The settlers, fearful of a possible evacuation, have stepped up their violence in recent months.

Hebron is the traditional burial site of Abraham, the shared patriarch of both Jews and Muslims.

Settlers say about 20 families were living in the building, but the population appears to fluctuate between a few dozen and a few hundred, with any rumor of an impending eviction sending people rushing in from nearby settlements.

Thursday's eviction was the first major evacuation since Israeli troops removed sections of the Amona outpost in February 2006. Dozens were injured at that time as hundreds of riot police battled settlers.

Tell me, if it's Palestinian territory, why should Israeli forces take them out?
I'm rooting for the settlers. The IDF keep fighting with Jews everywhere. Jews evicting Jews? Not good.

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081204/wl_nm/us_israel_palestinians_settlers_5

[Oxymoron]

The IDF keep fighting with Jews everywhere. Jews evicting Jews? Not good.

All this means is that Jews are not allowed buy property from Palestinians. So better that the property is sold for less money but as long as it is sold to a Palestinian. What if there are no Palestinians willing to buy your property?

[Nets]

Israel has to come down hard on the Hevron fanatics. They are the second biggest danger to Israel after the Charedim. Stop treating them with kid gloves, start using rubber bullets and tear gas and they'll fall into line pretty quickly.

It still amazes me that the right-wing settlers indirectly advocate a bi national state (through their peace destroying actions) instead of a Jewish-Democratic one the 49 lines.

Fair is fair; Abbas has been working pretty well to curb Hamas in the WB, in turn Israel should punish these hilltop hooligans.

Sephardi, what happens when the settlers have caused the Jewish and Arab populations to be so mixed that a two state solution is no longer possible and the world forces a binational state on both sides? Will you still be rooting for the settlers then? The Hevron settlers* are enemies of Zionism and enemies of the Jewish nation, frankly.


* Keeping in mind that there are 500,000 "settlers", when I say settler I mean the radical right-wingers, not the folks in E. Jerusalem, etc. looking for cheap housing etc. 80% of the Settlers could be separated from the Palestinians and bound to Israel with minimum intrusiveness and border modifications. It is just the troublesome minority who build deep in the WB amongst Arab population centers that have my ire.

[Oxymoron]

Nets why cant Jews own property in a future Palestine State?

[Ombrageux]

Nets why cant Jews own property in a future Palestine State?

Fail. You miss the point completely.

A) Settlers living among Arabs prevent the creation of a Palestinian state...
B) ...precisely because they would never accept such a travesty.

[Oxymoron]

A) Settlers living among Arabs prevent the creation of a Palestinian state...

Why?

B) ...precisely because they would never accept such a travesty.

Who wouldnt?

[Ombrageux]

For the same reason 1 million European settlers left Algeria on the eve of its independence!

You don't disenfranchise and military occupy 6 million people one day, and then willingly submit to their democratic majority the next.

[Oxymoron]

You don't disenfranchise and military occupy 6 million people one day, and then willingly submit to their democratic majority the next.

So your saying the Palestinians would kill them if they stayed?

[Maas]

Nets why cant Jews own property in a future Palestine State?

Fail. You miss the point completely.

A) Settlers living among Arabs prevent the creation of a Palestinian state...
B) ...precisely because they would never accept such a travesty.

in this case... this all doesn't matter.
The background is that those Jews claimed to have bought the building. The owner/previous owner claimed he never sold it. It resulted in a court order to kick out the damn and good for nuthing squatters who have been living their for more than a year now.

If the squaters were Palestinians than the IDF would have shot them out the building.

[QatzelOk]

Every few months, commercial media runs a story about "Jews evicting other Jews" from stolen land.

It helps create the illusion that "Israel is trying to do something (about its own expansion).

It's really helpful for a nation to have this much media influence. Helps get out some useful spin.

[Nets]

Maas, to be fair, it is hard to determine the ownership of the building. Of course the former owner is going to deny selling it, Palestinians that sell land to Jews don't have easy lives afterwards. Hell, by the end of the first Intifada Palestinians killed more of each other ("collaborators") then the IDF did.

It was the same in the pre-state days. Arabs would sell land to Jews (since the prices were good), and then immediately turn around and rail against selling land to Jews.

Of course, none of this changes my view that the IDF did the right thing here, hell, I think Israel has a valid claim to all of Hevron, but you have to compromise. There is no need for an flash-point between settlers and Palestinians, such as the house. The settlers staying in the house serves Hamas, and no one else. Best to remove the settlers.

[Ideational Ontarian]

I know Qatz, I mean fuck, why should they report report the news?

No, I think instead the entire media should get together and decide which side of a story they support and only report on what helps that case.

[Xopolis]

Taking out the trash...

[redcarpet]

I would love to see this throught the WB. IDF rounding up and expelling the illegal settlers. YES!

[Sephardi]

Qatz, I wont even reply, because Ideational Ontarian did it for me.

Does Mexico go in South California and take all of it's illegal immigrants out? Does Guatemala do that with Mexico? The point was, why should Israelis go into Arab territory, and drag out their own? "If the squaters were Palestinian than the IDF would have shot them out". Are you that ignorant? Around 17% of Israel is Muslim, you dont see the IDF dragging them out, they let them live in Israel instead of putting them in WB or Gaza

@RedCarpet: You're a Socialist

[Lightman]

I agree completely with Nets. If a peace is ever to be reached, then the settlers will have to leave, and if they aren't willing, then the IDF should drag them out, kicking and screaming, if need be. It's the only way for a just future for both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

@RedCarpet: You're a Socialist

Sephardi, your posts continue to amaze us all with your wonderful insights.

[Sephardi]

Sephardi, your posts continue to amaze us all with your wonderful insights.

Yea I love doing that.
I agree that they should leave but I'm speaking TECHNIQUALLY are they supposed to do this when it is not their land? Do mexican troops look for illegal immigrants in Southwest USA to help America's economic problem?

[Lightman]

I agree that they should leave but I'm speaking TECHNIQUALLY

Learn to spell.

I agree that they should leave but I'm speaking TECHNIQUALLY are they supposed to do this when it is not their land? Do mexican troops look for illegal immigrants in Southwest USA to help America's economic problem?

The West Bank is not a state. Although it has more or less autonomy, it is legally arguable that it is still Israeli territory.

[Maas]

Maas, to be fair, it is hard to determine the ownership of the building. Of course the former owner is going to deny selling it, Palestinians that sell land to Jews don't have easy lives afterwards. Hell, by the end of the first Intifada Palestinians killed more of each other ("collaborators") then the IDF did.

It was the same in the pre-state days. Arabs would sell land to Jews (since the prices were good), and then immediately turn around and rail against selling land to Jews.

to be fair???
This isn't the fucking pre-state days!! What kind of complete noob buys real estate without proof these days? No offense to the intellectually challenged, but you really must be incredible "challenged" to buy a building without any proof.

[Nets]

And Maas, what evidence do you have they don't have proof. If I recall correctly, they did have documentation, deeds and such. if you want to challenge the veracity of those documents, fine, but you should read into these issues more.