Israel forcibly evicts hundreds of settlers from disputed Hebron house

       Israeli security forces on Thursday forcibly evicted some 250 settlers and their supporters from a disputed building in the West Bank city of Hebron, about three weeks after the High Court of Justice ordered its immediate evacuation. Israel Police and Border Police troops could be seen on television pulling the settlers out of the house and dragging them away from the premises, one by one. Local media reported that it took approximately 600 security forces less than 5 minutes to carry out the operation, before Israel Defense Forces special unit troops took complete control of the building's roof.Zaka emergency rescue service reported that at least 10 people were hurt during the evacuation, some of them suffering head wounds. About 50 ambulances were called to the site. Witnesses said that forces used tear gas to dispel the crowd. The settlers themselves responded to the evacuation by throwing stones and eggs. Television images showed two young girls punching and hitting soldiers. The evacuation of the so-called "House of Contention" caught settlers by surprise, though Defense Minister Ehud Barak had earlier in the day ordered community leaders to vacate the house to enable quicker legal proceedings over the matter. Barak met earlier Thursday with settler leaders in a last-ditch effort to strike a deal over the disputed building. The meeting yielded little compromise and Barak told the settlers to vacate the house in accordance with the High Court's November 16 ruling, even before legal proceedings over ownership of the building was complete. "This house ... will be evacuated and will be guarded by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and the state until the court rules on its ownership," Barak said during talks with settler leaders in Tel Aviv, saying the youths who clashed with Palestinians and Israeli soldiers were "reckless." During the meeting, which was set to be held Wednesday and canceled twice, Barak said that immediate evacuation of the house would enable legal authorities to expedite proceedings over the ownership claims. "Citizens must accept the state's authority," said Barak, referring to the settler youth who refuse to evacuate the property. "We will not allow extreme elements to undermine the authority of the state and its foundation." The talks were intended to stave off a forcible evacuation of the house. As part of the deal, the Defense Ministry had proposed that the Yesha Council and the state ask the High Court of Justice to expedite its hearing on the dispute regarding the ownership of the house. The Yesha council, meanwhile, said in a statement it would seek to resolve the dispute over the building "by consent and not by force." The court had ordered the settlers to evacuate the house, which they have occupied since March 2007, after they presented forged ownership claims. The Palestinian owner of the house insists that he never sold the property to the settlers. Barak told Channel 2 on Wednesday that "the only reason to postpone [the eviction] is our desire to try to minimize the chance that it will end with bloodshed, God forbid." Barak added that "nothing will cause us to allow a small and extreme group to go against the authority of the state." Defense Ministry sources said they doubted a compromise would be struck, in part because it is unclear if Yesha would be able to impose its will on leaders of the struggle. The sources said Wednesday that settler leaders were planning violent confrontations across the West Bank to keep security forces distracted during the evacuation of the Hebron house. Barak himself warned that Israel may be witnessing "a wave of [settlers] violence that could spread to the entire West Bank." (15,26)