Israeli Settlers, Security Forces Clash In Hebron

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

And I'm Renee Montagne. One of the flashpoints on the occupied West Bank is the city of Hebron, and not just between Israel and the Palestinians. This week it's hard-line Jewish youth who were throwing rocks at Israel police. The violence erupted in an ongoing dispute over a building - a building that the government has ordered the Jewish settlers to leave. It's also led to clashes with Palestinians in a city where the settlers number just 650 and are surrounded by some 180,000 Palestinians. From Hebron, NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

ERIC WESTERVELT: Israeli border police in riot gear used water hoses and non-lethal stun grenades to try to control stone-throwing right-wing settler youth who rampaged again Wednesday through Arab parts of Hebron.

(Soundbite of stun grenade)

WESTERVELT: Some stun grenades are going off. Israeli police and border police are moving in, making some arrests. Settlers are throwing rocks.

(Soundbite of stun grenade)

WESTERVELT: Being thrown from the roof. Militant Jewish settlers are vowing to resist an Israeli government order to leave a disputed four-storey building. Settlers say the house was purchased from an Arab, and they moved into it legally. Israel's highest court and the defense ministry have ruled otherwise and want the house vacated until the ownership dispute is resolved. West Bank settler Michael Teplow(ph) says he rushed down to the house after hearing news security forces might move in to evict the settlers. He wanted to be with his teenage son and daughter who were living in what settlers call The House of Peace.

Mr. MICHAEL TEPLOW: The situation is complicated, but I know one thing. I'm going to stand by my children. There's all the proof indicating that this house was bought by us. And for absolutely no reason, the government refuses to recognize the right of Jews to own property in the land of Israel. That is not acceptable. That is wrong. That is disgusting. And it is evil.

WESTERVELT: Asked why settlers won't heed a ruling by Israel's supreme court, Teplow becomes enraged.

Mr. TEPLOW: There's absolutely no proportion. Unfortunately the world has lost its proportion. Let me ask you, is it because you hate Jews? I'm asking you. Answer the question please.

WESTERVELT: Of course not, and that's not...

Mr. TEPLOW: No, no. That is the question. Let me ask you, are you an anti-Semite?

WESTERVELT: Hundreds of settlers, many of them teenagers, have rushed to the Jewish enclave in the last week to try to fight the evacuation order. In recent days, angry settlers have vandalized Arab homes and desecrated a Muslim cemetery. Stone throwing Palestinians who live near the disputed house wounded settlers earlier this week, including a teenager who remains hospitalized with a serious head injury. Near the house Wednesday, masked Palestinian youths set tires ablaze in the street before Israeli soldiers gave chase in a familiar cat and mouse through Hebron's narrow, winding streets.

(Soundbite of people shouting)

WESTERVELT: Nabil Jabber(ph), who lives in the neighborhood, says Palestinians are preparing to defend themselves.

Mr. NABIL JABBER: Always, every night, every day, every morning, every evening, the settlers attacking all this area, breaking the windows and destroying cars. We don't - we can't live with them in the same area. This is the situation in here.

WESTERVELT: It's not clear when or if the Israeli military will evacuate the property. Jewish settlers here hope Israeli elections in February will usher in a new government more sympathetic to their claim over the disputed house. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Hebron. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.