Region | Palestinian Territories
Colonists clash with Israeli troops
Dozens of colonists on Tuesday rioted in the West Bank town of Hebron, clashing with the Israeli troops who guard them but who may also soon evict them from a disputed building.
- AP
- Published: 23:25 December 2, 2008
West Bank: Dozens of colonists on Tuesday rioted in the West Bank town of Hebron, clashing with the Israeli troops who guard them but who may also soon evict them from a disputed building.
In two villages elsewhere in the West Bank, Palestinians said groups of colonists burned animal feed and slashed tyres in what appears to be part of a broader tactic meant to deter Israeli authorities from dismantling unauthorised colonies or attempting to rein colonists in.
Israeli soldiers used stun grenades against the Hebron colonists, most of them teenagers, in clashes near a building that colonists took over early last year.
The ownership is under dispute in a court in occupied Jerusalem. But the colonists moved in without government authorisation and the Supreme Court has ordered them to leave.
On Monday evening, rumours were circulating that the Israeli military would evict the colonists by force and hundreds of extremists flocked to the site to help resist eviction. No attempt was made to evacuate the building.
Cemetery
The military says rioters broke windows of cars and homes and defaced a Muslim cemetery in the area near the house.
Colonists in several other locations in the West Bank also blocked roads and threw stones at Palestinian cars.
In recent months some West Bank colonists have pioneered a policy they term the "price tag," in which they attack Palestinians and security forces in response to any attempt to evacuate unauthorised colonies.
Apparently in keeping with that tactic, several dozen colonists burned animal feed in the West Bank village of Kablan at around 3am yesterday and slashed the tyres of dozens of cars, according to resident Abdullah Snobar. In a neighbouring village, Assawiyah, colonists who arrived at around the same time slashed tyres and spraypainted anti-Arab and anti-Islam slogans on the local mosque, according to village official Mohammad Mahamdeh.
Death
In other developments, Israeli troops killed a member of a Palestinian group, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, late on Monday in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus.
Undercover forces shot and killed Mohammad Abu Daragh as he got into a car driven by a member of the Palestinian security forces, according to the driver, Naim Abdul Salam.
"He tried to get in beside me. Before he could close the door, Israeli forces grabbed the door and fired three or four shots at him," Abdul Salam said.
A black Suzuki jeep pulled up two minutes later and the soldiers took Abu Daragh away, he said.
Palestinian officials said Abu Daragh was part of an amnesty deal for fighters from Al Aqsa, who are allied with the Fatah movement headed by moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. They said he should not have been targeted.
The military did not comment on whether Abu Daragh had been part of the amnesty agreement.
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