Israeli troops scuffled with settlers to bulldoze a Jewish outpost in the West Bank yesterday, the first of a handful slated for destruction before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visits Washington.
The removal of unauthorized settlements, long demanded by the US under a stalled peace plan, would go some way to please Israel's main ally as Sharon seeks support for a go-it-alone pullout from the Gaza Strip.
PHOTO: EPA
Palestinians dismissed the removal of uninhabited Hazon David as just a public-relations exercise.
Soldiers rushed in before dawn to tear down the outpost near the West Bank city of Hebron.
Settlers repeatedly broke through a police cordon, grappling with troops and trying to obstruct an army bulldozer as it crushed the flimsy synagogue of concrete blocks and canvas.
Its destruction enraged settlers already fuming at the plan by their one-time champion Sharon to uproot Jews from Gaza.
"In our eyes this is the desecration of a holy site. It calls for national mourning," said settler leader Benny Katzover. "We will do everything to rebuild."
Some 240,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip alongside 3.5 million Palestinians. Settlements are widely seen as illegal by the international community, though Israel disputes this.
Palestinian minister Saeb Erekat dismissed the removal of Hazon David as cosmetic.
"Settlement activity goes on and the war goes on," he said.
Seeking to "disengage" from the Palestinians because of what he calls the absence of a negotiating partner, Sharon has proposed an Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip and a few pockets of the West Bank.
Palestinians would welcome any withdrawal but fear Israel would strengthen its grip on large chunks of the West Bank and deprive them of a viable state.
Sharon is due to meet US President George W. Bush later this month to seek vital support for the Gaza pullout and is pushing ahead with the plan despite a bribery probe that could bring him down.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers killed at least two Palestinians suspected of attempting to attack an army base in the Gaza Strip yesterday, military sources said.
Soldiers opened fire at three men seen crawling towards their base near the Gush Katif settlement bloc in southern Gaza.
POLLS
Hoping to silence internal criticism, 76-year-old Sharon agreed on Tuesday to put his initiative to a binding vote by his right-wing Likud party.
Polls show party members are increasingly willing to part with isolated, hard-to-defend Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Polls published in the Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv newspapers found that 51 percent of right-wing Likud members supported Sharon's unilateral Gaza Strip withdrawal plan and between 36 and 39 percent opposed it. The rest were undecided.
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