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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Hebron settlers evicted by force | Hebron settlers evicted by force |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Israeli forces have evicted about 200 Jewish settlers from a disputed building in the mainly Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron. | |
| Israeli television footage showed police dragging settlers out of the building. Hundreds of officers were involved in the operation. | Israeli television footage showed police dragging settlers out of the building. Hundreds of officers were involved in the operation. |
| The settlers had refused to leave the house, in defiance of an Israeli Supreme Court order. | |
| Earlier the Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak met the group. | Earlier the Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak met the group. |
| The operation was over in about 20 minutes, said Israeli army spokeswoman Major Avital Leibovitz. | |
| Soldiers and police formed a barrier around the building to prevent settlers from moving back in. | |
| The operation follows days of days of stone-throwing clashes between the settlers and Palestinians. | |
| Hundreds of their supporters and activists flocked to the area to show their solidarity with the building's occupiers. | |
| Israeli defence officials have expressed fears the Hebron tensions will spill to other areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. | Israeli defence officials have expressed fears the Hebron tensions will spill to other areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. |
| Legal wrangle | Legal wrangle |
| Ownership of the building, known by the settlers as the "house of peace", is in dispute. | Ownership of the building, known by the settlers as the "house of peace", is in dispute. |
| The settlers say that they bought the house in question in a legal transaction from its Palestinian owner for nearly $1m (£660,000), but he says he pulled out of the deal. | The settlers say that they bought the house in question in a legal transaction from its Palestinian owner for nearly $1m (£660,000), but he says he pulled out of the deal. |
| It took several soldiers to remove each settler from the house | |
| The Israeli supreme court ordered the building to be cleared of its occupiers until another court could decide who owned it. | The Israeli supreme court ordered the building to be cleared of its occupiers until another court could decide who owned it. |
| Mr Barak said the building would be handed over to the guardianship of the Israeli military until the dispute was resolved. | Mr Barak said the building would be handed over to the guardianship of the Israeli military until the dispute was resolved. |
| Settlers denounced the military action. | |
| "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." | |
| But legislator Avshalom Vilan, a member of the Meretz-Yahad party, defended the evictions as a victory for justice. | |
| "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," he said. | |
| The house is in a strategically important position between Hebron's Jewish settlement and an important religious site sacred to both Jews and Muslims, says the BBC's James Stephenson in Jerusalem. | |
| About 600 Jewish settlers live in the city, with several thousand more in surrounding settlements. | About 600 Jewish settlers live in the city, with several thousand more in surrounding settlements. |