Israeli soldiers started tearing down settlement outposts in the West Bank on Monday. Settlers threatened to turn out by the thousands to frustrate the effort and Palestinians dismissed the effort as deception.
Israel Army Radio reported early Tuesday that hundreds of settlers converged on four outposts overnight, hoping to disrupt their evacuation.
Under the "road map" peace plan, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is required to remove scores of outposts in the West Bank, some empty and many others inhabited by just a few people.
On his part, Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed Monday's operation. "I hope that in discharging this commitment, they would be able to remove these unauthorized outposts in a peaceful way," Powell said during a visit to Santiago, Chile.
The Israeli military pulled down a water tower at the Amona outpost. More than 100 people from a nearby Jewish settlement rushed over and blocked the road with stones and a human chain, preventing soldiers from hauling the tower away on a truck.
An army statement said unauthorized structures were removed from five outposts on Monday. Israel Radio said early Tuesday that four others were dismantled, one by settlers. All were uninhabited. Israel TV said the government has listed 94 outposts, but did not give a breakdown of those built before and after March 1, 2001.
Settlers said they would put up stiffer resistance at several populated outposts slated for removal.
Palestinians were not impressed by Monday's moves. "Sharon is playing a game of deception through the evacuation of some of the empty trailers in order to give legitimacy to the tens of settlements he established," Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said, according to AP.
In violence Monday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians in an exchange of fire near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in central Gaza after nightfall, the military said. In a village south of Jenin, Israeli forces shot dead another Palestinian.(Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
