News in Brief

The police will evacuate settlers in Hebron from the building known as "the brown house" now that their investigation has been completed, the State Prosecutor's Office told the High Court of Justice yesterday. The state prosecutor's representative, Gilad Shirman, told the court during the hearing about a petition by Palestinian residents of Hebron to evict the settlers, that the authorities decided on the evacuation after evidence had been found of "new squatting" in the building. "The settlers will receive notice demanding that they leave willingly and if not, they will be forcefully evacuated," Shirman said. (Yuval Yoaz)

Fifteen LAW anti-tank weapons were stolen a few weeks ago from an Israel Defense Forces munitions bunker in the Golan Heights, Haaretz has learned. Military and civilian police have begun investigating the case, seeking to determine whether the shoulder-held weapons have found their way to underworld elements. The possibility that terrorists are involved is also being probed. In recent years LAW weapons have been used a number of times in hits on senior underworld figures. The IDF Spokesman's Office confirmed the theft and said that the results of the probe would be presented to the Military Advocate General. (Yuval Azoulay)

The Israel Defense Forces keeps Palestinian detainees in shipping containers while they wait for their hearing in the West Bank military court, the human rights organization Yesh Din says. An Israel Prisons Service officer last week showed Yesh Din representatives two shipping containers at the military court in Salem in the northern West Bank, where prisoners awaiting remand hearings were being held. The prisoners said this was the usual practice. On another visit to the site, Border Police officers told Yesh Din the practice was very rare. An IDF spokesman's representative would not allow the containers to be photographed. (Avi Issacharoff)