About 200 settlers stormed an IDF base near the settlement of Ofra in the Benyamin regional council on Tuesday to protest the planned evacuation of the illegal settlement of Amona, set for Thursday.
| Hebron Evacuation |
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| Settlers leave Hebron market / Efrat Weiss |
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Confrontation averted: Jewish families residing in Hebron market depart voluntarily; meanwhile, tensions rise ahead of evacuation of Amona outpost, settlers flock to area, some puncture IDF jeep, hurl stone at army post |
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Overnight settlers attacked soldiers in a jeep near the base, puncturing the jeep’s tires with knives and hurling stones at troops.
The army said the soldiers attacked were part of troops assigned the protection of the Ofra settlement.
MK Landau: Kadima has turned settlers into enemy
Knesset Member Uzi Landau (Likud) said that the government is enforcing the law only against settlers.
"It seems that in Israel of 2006 it is popular to enforce the law only against the settlers after Kadima turned them into the people's enemy," Landau said, calling on the settlers not to play into the hands of Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert while the illegal West Bank outpost of Amona is evacuated.
Meanwhile, IDF troops at a West Bank roadblock stopped two buses carrying youths heading to Amona.
Earlier, a military order was signed allowing troops at roadblocks to prevent settlers from passing through if they are suspected of planning to reach Amona and disrupt the evacuation.
The Yesha Council called on the public to flock to Amona for a "resolute struggle against the intention to raze and destroy."
"In areas blocked by the army, organize in groups and start walking in order to reach Amona at any price," the Council advised its supporters.
Despite the order settlers said some 1000 activists have managed to reach the Ofra settlement where community and sport centers were opened to shelter the new arrivals from the cold.
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