ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/SETTLERS-SCUFFLES Scuffles erupt between Israeli police and Jewish settlers slated for eviction in West Bank

Record ID: 145990

  • Title: ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/SETTLERS-SCUFFLES Scuffles erupt between Israeli police and Jewish settlers slated for eviction in West Bank
  • Date: 28th July 2015
  • Summary: SA-NUR SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK (FILE - AUGUST 23, 2005) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) WIDE OF SYNAGOGUE WITH TROOPS AROUND SETTLERS TALKING TO TROOPS INSIDE SYNAGOGUE BEHIND RAZOR WIRE SETTLER BEING CARRIED FROM SYNAGOGUE THROUGH CROWD SCREAMING WOMAN EVACUATED FROM CITADEL VARIOUS OF SETTLERS ON ROOF OF CITADEL BEING SPRAYED WITH WATER CANON BY TROOPS VARIOUS OF CONTAINER BEING LIFTED ONTO ROOF
  • Embargoed: 12th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABTD2SB6SCMAOXHYSFU3YHVHWO
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Jewish settlers at the West Bank settlements of Beit El and Sa-Nur stood their ground on Tuesday (July 28), occupying buildings slated for demolition at the former and in the destroyed structures of the latter, demanding the Israeli government allows them to keep a presence at both sites.
    Earlier in the day, Israeli forces took control over two buildings in Beit El which are under construction and deemed illegal by Israel's High Court, after they evacuated dozens of Jewish settlers from the premises.
    Using riot gear, the forces burst into the structures in the early hours of Tuesday, heralding a showdown with dozens of young Jewish ultra-nationalists who barricaded themselves in one of the structures.
    Dozens of settlers were forcefully evacuated, some arrested. No injuries were reported. Some scuffles continued throughout the day in the settlement located near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
    On Tuesday morning police forces took charge of the area, where settlers still gathered, awaiting developments.
    Israeli defence minister Moshe Yaalon, who came under criticism from right wing coalition members such as education minister Naftali Bennet, issued a statement saying he would not cooperate with law breaking activities.
    "I acted and I am acting for the settlement in Judea and Samaria, including Bet El. The sane and law abiding majority there knows this. But whoever thinks I will break the law is mistaken. I will not cooperate with anarchy. I expect government ministers to support the rule of law," using the biblical name for the West Bank.
    The evacuation came after Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din urgently petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday (July 26) together with Palestinian land owners to cancel the planning guidelines and block any construction or development on the so-called Dreinof Compound.
    According to local Israeli media, the Beit El Local Council is preparing to file a petition to the High Court on Tuesday in an attempt to cancel the High Court decision to demolish the structures.
    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government opposed the demolition of the half completed buildings and was using legal channels to overturn court's decision.
    Also on Tuesday, Jewish settlers who entered Sa-Nur settlement near Jenin, which was evacuated ten years ago under Israel's government 'Disengagement' plan, were facing an ultimatum for evacuation.
    "We found that this is a time, ten years after we left this place to come back home to show the State of Israel, the nation of Israel, all the people of Israel that we still dream about coming back home," said one of the settlers, Suzana Shilo.
    Israel completed the evacuation of the West Bank settlements of Sa-nur and Homesh in 2005 completing the removal of settlers under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for withdrawing from some occupied land, which also included settlements in the Gaza Strip.
    Sharon's U.S.-backed "disengagement plan" marked the first uprooting of settlers from land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians want for a future state. Diplomats then hoped the pull-out would revive Middle East peace talks.
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