JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians who pitched tents at a strategic West Bank site to protest plans to build a Jewish housing project there were evicted early Sunday, the police said.
The protesters put up tents in the area known as E-1 on Friday, saying they wanted to “establish facts on the ground” to stop Israeli construction in the West Bank. They were borrowing a phrase and a tactic usually associated with Jewish settlers, who believe establishing communities means the territory will remain theirs once structures are built.
Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said officers evicted about a hundred protesters from the site early Sunday morning after a court decision authorizing their removal. He did not know which court had allowed the eviction.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the eviction was carried out despite a temporary Supreme Court injunction preventing it.
Mr. Rosenfeld said that no arrests were made during the half-hour eviction and that no injuries were sustained on either side. He said that the tents were not dismantled, but that a decision on that would be made later in the day.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered roads leading to the area closed on Saturday evening, and had the military shut off access. Mr. Netanyahu’s office said the state was petitioning the Supreme Court to rescind its injunction blocking the evacuation.
Israel announced it was moving forward with the E-1 settlement after the United Nations recognized a de facto state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in November.
Palestinians said E-1 would be a major blow to their statehood aspirations, as it blocks East Jerusalem from its West Bank hinterland. They are demanding these areas, along with Gaza, for their future state.
The protesters said they wanted to build a village called Bab al-Shams at the site.
The construction plans drew unusually sharp criticism from some of Israel’s staunchest allies, including the United States, who strongly oppose the E- 1 project.
Israeli officials have said actual construction on the project may be years away, if it ever happens, while Israeli critics have questioned whether Mr. Netanyahu actually intends to develop E-1 or is pandering to hard-liners ahead of the country’s Jan. 22 election.
In a separate episode Saturday, the Israeli military said soldiers shot at a Palestinian who tried to enter Israel from the West Bank. The military said soldiers called on the man to stop, then fired warning shots in the air, and finally fired at his legs when he refused to stop.
The Palestinian police said he later died of his wounds.
It was the second shooting death on the borders with the Palestinian territories in two days. On Friday, Palestinian officials in the Gaza Strip said a man was shot and killed near the coastal territory’s border fence. The Israeli military said he was part of a group who rushed the fence to damage it.
Israeli Police Evict Palestinian Protesters from E-1
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Israeli Police Evict Palestinian Protesters from E-1
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Israeli Police Evict Palestinian Protesters from E-1
