The evacuation of settlers from a Palestinian home in Hebron will be deferred for a long time, if it takes place at all, senior defense officials said yesterday.

The comments coincided with a gathering of about 200 Peace Now demonstrators in the West Bank city to mark the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of the Six Day War. The demonstrators urged the government to remove all settlers from the biblical city and held signs that reiterated this demand. They faced off against 30 counter-demonstrators, who carried signs calling them traitors. Local Palestinians peered out of their windows at the protest, which took place near the Cave of the Patriarchs, while dozens of soldiers stood guard.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh had previously said they expected the evacuation of the Hebron home to be completed by mid-May. The Hebron settlers began living in the disputed house on March 19, after several years of negotiating with the Palestinian owners. The settlers say they bought the house legally and signed a contract, but the Palestinians say otherwise.

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But despite the Defense Ministry's earlier optimistic prognosis, discussions held at the ministry this week revealed that the evacuation process is likely to be far more complicated than previously anticipated.

Security officials told Haaretz yesterday that the settlers' hearing before an Israel Defense Forces appeals committee, at which they will protest the Civil Administration's decision that the settlers moved into the house illegally and must be evacuated, is likely to take a long time.

Afterward, the settlers will apparently have the right to appeal the decision once again, this time to the High Court of Justice.

The officials added that it is doubtful whether the evacuation will take place at all, given the reservations that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other senior members of his Kadima Party have about the plan to remove the settlers from the house.

At the least, said one of the officials, the evacuation "won't take place during Peretz's term at the Defense Ministry." Peretz is slated to complete his term in mid-June, after the Labor Party elects a new leader.

Civil Administration officials originally suggested that Peretz order an immediate evacuation of the house, relying on the argument that the settlers did not receive the necessary permits from the Civil Administration.

But though Peretz said he thinks the settlers should be evacuated, he decided to hand the decision over to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. At Mazuz's suggestion, the issue was turned over to the Civil Administration, whose decision the settlers are now appealing.

The house, which has come to be known as either "Beit Hameriva" ("The House of Contention") or "The Brown House," is located in a strategic place from the settlers' perspective - adjacent to Worshipers Way, the road that leads from Kiryat Arba to the Cave of the Patriarchs. The acquisition of additional houses nearby would help settlers strengthen their position in the area.