Posted on 06/19/2003 5:04:09 AM PDT by Israel Insider
IDF Paratroopers, female soldiers and police this morning began dismantling Mitzpe Yitzhar, an unauthorized outpost south of Nablus. Some 200 settlers gathered at the outpost to block the soldiers. Large stones were placed on access roads and fires were set off to prevent the evacuation. The High Court of Justice issued a temporary restraining order late Wednesday, staying the army's dismantling of one permanent structure at the site.
Two settlers said they were injured when they were struck by an army jeep. Army Radio reported that three settlers and four policemen were lightly injured during the evacuation. The settlers were said to be blocking heavy IDF equipment from reaching the outpost. A number of arrests were made, media sources reported.
In addition, settlers trying to reach Mitzpe Yitzhar clashed with Palestinians in the nearby villages of Ein Yabus and Huwara. Border Police were called in to separate the two groups but no injuries were reported.
Mitzpe Yitzhar is the first inhabited outpost to be dismantled by the government since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised at the Aqaba summit to move against the unauthorized settlements. Last week, the army dismantled ten uninhabited outposts. The dismantling of five inhabited outposts was delayed after representatives of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip petitioned the High Court of Justice, claiming that at least in one case - Havat Gilad - family members living at the site legally owned the land and therefore had official authorization.
Haarezt is that disgusting self hating newspaper; e.g.Some Haaretz self haters
I really don't get how the illegal settlements can be defended by Israel's supporters. If 200 US citizens were to build a settlement on an Indian reservation, we'd be removed, fast. What's the difference?
Israeli soldiers and police carry a metal closet as Jewish settlers push it from the other side as they attempt to prevent troops from dismantling the settlement outpost of Mitzpeh Yitzhar near the Palestinian West Bank town of Nablus, Thursday, June 19, 2003. Angry settlers got into bloody fistfights Thursday with soldiers and police trying to dismantle the West Bank settlement outpost of Mitzpeh Yitzhar, the first inhabited outpost being removed under a new U.S.-backed peace plan. The year-old outpost consisted mainly of tents and had about 10 inhabitants, but about 200 people from nearby Jewish settlements converged on the hilltop to prevent the authorities from dismantling the outpost.(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
A Jewish settler grimaces after he falls into a fire lit by other settlers as they try to prevent Israeli troops from reaching the settlement outpost of Mitzpeh Yitzhar near the Palestinian West Bank town of Nablus June 19, 2003. Dozens of settlers scuffled with Israeli soldiers sent to take down a settler outpost on Thursday just hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed a shop owner in northern Israel. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
Israeli soldiers push a Jewish settler off a military armored vehicle as settlers try to prevent troops from reaching the settlement outpost of Mitzpeh Yitzhar near the Palestinian West Bank town of Nablus, Thursday, June 19, 2003. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
They must be kin to Rachel Corrie?
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