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Police and IDF troops evacuated the Hazon David outpost near Hebron. Settlers clashed with security forces and vowed to rebuild the synagogue. (Pierre Terdjman, Baubau)
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Security forces remove the sign at Hazon David. (Hebron Press Office)
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| By Ellis Shuman March 31, 2004 |
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Hundreds of police officers and IDF troops evacuated the unauthorized Hazon David outpost near Hebron early this morning. The outpost, which was uninhabited, consisted of several tents and a synagogue. Yesterday, two police officers were wounded in clashes with settlers, who vowed to rebuild the site. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon said that the army is ready to "carry out what it's required to do."
By mid-morning, hundreds of settlers had gathered at Hazon David and had begun to rebuild the outpost's synagogue. The army declared the outpost a closed military zone and prepared to evacuate the settlers. A policewoman was lightly injured in the hand by a stone thrown by settlers and treated at the site by Magen David Adom, news sources reported.
Speaking at a meeting with President Moshe Katsav this morning, Yaalon said the evacuation of outposts, as ordered by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz in December, had been delayed due to repeated petitions to the High Court of Justice. But now that the court had rejected the petitions, the IDF could implement its plan to evacuate the outposts, Yaalon said.
About a week ago, the High Court rejected the settlers' request to hold an additional hearing in their petition against the legality of the outpost evacuation order, Maariv reported.
This morning at about 4 a.m., security forces arrived at Hazon David to begin evacuating the outpost. At the time a group of about 50 youths from Hebron and Kiryat Arba was at the site, and the youths were quickly evicted without incident.
"The security forces then emptied the synagogue of its books, Torah scroll and furniture," the Hebron Press Office said in a statement. "At about 5 a.m., an army D9 tractor began destroying the tent, which served as a synagogue for the past three years," the statement said.
Settler leaders vowed to rebuild the Hazon David synagogue, built near the spot where David Cohen, of Beitar Illit, was killed by a Palestinian gunman on July 14, 2001.
"We already started rebuilding the synagogue. Hundreds of Kiryat Arba residents are watching in tears the bulldozer demolishing the synagogue. We'll be back," said Hebron settler leader Orit Struck.
Rabbi Yaakov Eichenstein, director of the synagogue, promised the crowd gathered at Hazon David that the synagogue would be rebuilt, bigger and stronger than the original tent.
"IDF forces and police have destroyed a synagogue in Kiryat Arba," said Kiryat Arba Mayor Zvi Katzover. "We will do all we can to rebuild it and to save the country."
Some of the settlers vowed that Hazon David would be the last outpost evacuated, and that the next evacuation would be that of Sharon from his office, Army Radio reported.
Yesterday, some 200 settlers from Hebron and Kiryat Arba gathered at Hazon David anticipating an imminent evacuation of the site. Ynet reported that the settlers brought a large garbage container and set up tents. IDF officers told the settlers that there were no immediate plans to evacuate Hazon David, ynet reported.
Two policemen were injured when clashes broke out with settlers and their supporters. Five women and two men, all from Hebron, were arrested for being in a closed military area and attacking police, Israel Police spokesman Gil Kleiman told the Jerusalem Post. But Haaretz and Maariv reported that four settlers were arrested on suspicion of throwing stones at Palestinian houses.
In a related story, a group of some 15 Jewish families moved into homes in the Arab neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem overnight. Some of the other homes had been purchased from Arabs by the Committee for the Renewal of the Yemenite Neighborhood in Silwan and the Ateret Cohanim organization.
When the Jews arrived in the homes, they were immediately attacked by their Palestinian neighbors, Haaretz reported. The Palestinians threw stones at the Jews and police were called to intervene.
During a search of nearby homes, police discovered a stock of Molotov cocktails, which the Palestinians apparently planned to throw at the settlers.
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