Last update - 00:00 28/03/2007
Rightists evacuated from Homesh after two days of protests
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel Police on Wednesday morning succefully evacuated some 480 right-wing protesters who had spent the last two days on the ruins of the former West Bank settlement of Homesh trying to reconstruct the community.
Police deployed some 1,000 officers on the destroyed settlement early Wednesday and began ordering the protesters to board buses and evacuate the site.
A few minutes after the deadline police had given the squatters to leave the site, police began forcibly removing them, picking them up and putting them on buses, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
About 100 demonstrators packed up their tents and left voluntarily, he said. No violence was apparent, he added. Another 300 or so rotesters exhibited passive resistance to the evacuation, singing and not showing any signs of struggle. Police deployed four officers to each protester.
Police initially refrained from using force to evacuate the protesters, but police Brigadier General Eli Zamir warned activists that anyone who refused to evacuate voluntarily would be evacuated by reasonable force.
Tuesday - the second day of demonstrations at the site - was spent in exhausting discussions between the two sides, but passed without violence. The protesters, mainly youth, arrived at the former settlement on a march with 2,500 other demonstrators, organized by former Homesh residents in an attempt to reinhabit the community.
The Israel Defense Forces continued the policy on Tuesday of trying to accommodate the protesters to avoid escalation until a decision is made to evacuate them. Over the course of the day, a woman evacuated from the settlement during the 2005 disengagement asked the IDF for permission to bring in relatives and friends to celebrate her son's circumcision ceremony.
Protracted negotiations ended on Tuesday afternoon with the army allowing two buses with the Hermlich and Sohn families to arrive at the site to hold the ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, the families left.
The police and Border Police prepared for a dawn evacuation, but predicted the timing was subject to change depending on actions the settlers may take to prevent their removal. The IDF will not deal with the evacuation, but will deploy around the perimeter to prevent additional demonstrators from arriving and to protect the protesters from terrorist attack.
Early on Tuesday, settlers punctured the tires of four Border Police vehicles, and in the afternoon young people burned tires and placed barricades on the road to Homesh, although they did not actively block the road to soldiers.