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Last update - 22:44 06/12/2008
PA police: Settlers set fire to Palestinian home in Hebron
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Tags: israel news, hebron

Jewish settlers torched a rooftop enclosure of a Palestinian man's home in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, a Palestinian police spokesman said.

The alleged incident occurred amidst high tensions in the area. Israel placed military and police forces on alert Friday to head off settler violence after the evacuation of a disputed West Bank building brought hostilities between the government and extremist settlers to a peak.

The Hebron resident, Nidal Awawi, told Reuters a room he had built on his roof was blackened and destroyed by a fire set off before dawn. There were no casualties, he said.
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A spokesman for Palestinian police, Ramadan Awad, blamed the arson on Jewish settlers he said were spotted fleeing the scene as flames engulfed the building. Awawi's house is surrounded on three sides by settler homes.

Awad demanded Israel "put an end to their (settlers') aggression and carry out its responsibilities to restore calm".

An Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman said they had not received any report about the fire.

The Palestinian news agency Maan said settlers also blocked roads elsehwere in the West Bank, near the Jewish enclave of Yitzhar, a site of previous settler protests this week.

Army forces were beefed up across the West Bank, defense officials said on Friday. The move follows the eviction of settlers from a four-story building in the town of Hebron on Thursday and subsequent rampages by settler youth who attacked Palestinians and set fire to Palestinian homes and cars.

There were some 500 policemen in and around Hebron on Friday, a substantial increase from the usual deployment, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Worried about possible Palestinian disturbances in retaliation for the settler attacks, police also restricted the entrance of Muslim worshippers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque because of fears that riots could erupt there during Friday's communal prayers. Palestinian men under 45 were barred, Rosenfeld said.

In central Hebron, several dozen Palestinians protesting the settler attacks clashed with soldiers, who responded with tear gas. In Jerusalem's Old City, police clashed with a group of Palestinian youth. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Earlier Friday, senior officers in the IDF Central Command met with commanders of the Palestinian Authority's security apparatus in an effort to coordinate their positions following the settler riots on Thursday. The meeting was attended by the IDF's West Bank commander, Colonel Noam Tibon, and the head of the civil administration authority, Colonel Yoav Mordechai.

Military sources said the tension was palpable at the meeting, with the Palestinians complaining bitterly about the violence which was directed towards their people near the evacuated home in Hebron. IDF officers stressed to their Palestinian counterparts that the security forces did all they could to prevent the attacks on Palestinians and their property.

Palestinian residents near the disputed building, who spent much of Thursday cowering in their homes, emerged Friday to inspect the damage and sweep up stones thrown by settlers. The building was empty and under military guard, its metal doors chained shut and padlocked by soldiers.

The settlers claim to have purchased the building from a Palestinian, who
claims he did not sell it. The settlers moved in without the necessary
government approval early last year, and last month the Supreme Court ordered them evicted until a lower court decides who the rightful owner is.

About 600 Jewish settlers live in guarded enclaves in Hebron, a city of
170,000 Palestinians.

Some 35 settlers and soldiers were hurt in Thursday's clashes. Rescue workers and Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital said one settler was moderately wounded, and the others were lightly injured. Palestinian hospital officials said 17 Palestinians were wounded, including five from bullets.

Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, summoned foreign diplomats
Friday to an urgent consultation about the Hebron incidents, asking for
international intervention and for a meeting of the UN Security Council.

"Israel must protect Hebron's Palestinians and should remove settlers from the city," Malki said. "We hold the Israeli government and army responsible for what is happening.

The UN's Mideast envoy, Richard Serry, welcomed Israel's eviction of the
settlers but condemned the ensuing violence.

"As the occupying power, the government of Israel is under obligation to
protect Palestinian civilians, property and holy sites," Serry said in a
statement.

"I remain concerned about the potential for a further escalation of a tense situation," he said.

Related articles:
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  • ANALYSIS / Hebron settler riots can only be called 'pogrom'
  • IDF declares Hebron area closed military zone after settler rampage IDF declares Hebron area closed military zone after settler rampage
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      1.   Hebron Settlers 13:37  |  Jim 05/12/08
      2.   Settlers can no longer threaten State security 13:48  |  Ussishkin 05/12/08
      3.   "set fire to homes and cars" ?- we do it quite often 14:07  |  progressive muslims 05/12/08
      4.   trade land 15:04  |  alfredglennyoungberg 05/12/08
      5.   What goes up will come down. 15:14  |  B.Saleem 05/12/08
      6.   Settlers Can No Longr Threaten State`s Security 16:25  |  Ussishkin 05/12/08
      7.   Settlement building will continue--Jews have rights too 16:45  |  IW 05/12/08
      8.   "settlers set fire to Palestinian homes and cars" 17:21  |  Silvienne 05/12/08
      9.   They threaten the security of the State last sent 14.25 18:58  |  Ussishkin 05/12/08
      10.   Dear B. Saleem 19:57  |  fsf 05/12/08
      11.   Kristallnacht 20:29  |  Tony 05/12/08
      12.   Frankenstein 20:59  |  Baz Mann 05/12/08
      13.   Hebron and more 00:39  |  Mitchell Levin 06/12/08
      14.   bolstering forces 02:17  |  Arie 06/12/08
      15.   What`s really holding up the peace process? 05:09  |  Great White North 06/12/08
      16.   Call Up Reserves 06:22  |  Mark of Lewiston 06/12/08
      17.   ashamed 14:06  |  mike the dolphin 06/12/08
      18.   #15 Pretty easy to answer that question, GWN 14:31  |  Johnboy 06/12/08
      19.   #7 Pointing out - again - the flaw, IW... 14:39  |  Johnboy 06/12/08
      20.   Why "settlers" and not "Terrorists" 16:12  |  TimothyL 06/12/08
      21.   to silvienne 16:36  |  dov 06/12/08
      22.   President Obama must not interfere. 16:55  |  Lou Medel 06/12/08
      23.   Remove them 17:59  |  Lee 06/12/08
      24.   Time to call the UN to help Palestine 18:51  |  Dav 06/12/08
      25.   It will get Bibi another turn as PM - Mark of Lewiston 19:11  |  Mark Lincoln 06/12/08
      26.   hebron, dearly pay by our abraham abinu 4000 years ago. 22:15  |  jacobo lashak-korogo 06/12/08
      27.   my intention 00:50  |  amos 07/12/08
      28.   PA police: Settlers set fire to Palestinian home in Hebron. 02:35  |  Akram Zekaria 07/12/08
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