3/21/2017 Israel removes settlers from homes on private Palestinian land | Top News | Reuters

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WORLD INDICES OFRA, West Bank (Reuters) -
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Israeli police began removing
settlers and hundreds of
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supporters on Tuesday from nine
Support houses built illegally on privately
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owned Palestinian land in the
1 of 1 Full Size occupied West Bank.

Police carried some of the settlers

and protesters out of the red-roofed structures in the
settlement of Ofra, while others walked out, escorted by
officers.

Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the demolition of nine

buildings in the settlement of more than 3,000 people after
finding that those homes were constructed on land where
Palestinians proved ownership.

Such judicial rulings upholding Palestinian property rights

have riled Israel's right-wing, as it promotes plans to
expand construction in settlements built on occupied
territory Palestinians seek for a state.

In one home in Ofra, police and protesters, mainly youths,

linked arms and swayed in prayer before the youngsters,
offering passive resistance, were taken outside.

"We feel that this is not right at all, what's being done here:
the destruction of these homes in the center of a Jewish
town, in the center of a populated town that was
established legally 42 years ago," said Eliana Passentin, a
spokeswoman for the local settler regional council.

There was little initial sign of the kind of violence that

accompanied a larger-scale evacuation on Feb. 2 of Amona,
a West Bank settlement-outpost built without Israeli
government permission in 1995.

More than 100 youngsters had protested against the

removal of Amona's 300 settlers. Some 60 officers and at
least four demonstrators were hurt in scuffles there that
included bleach being thrown at police.

Most countries consider all Israeli settlements on land

occupied in the 1967 Middle East war to be illegal. Israel
disagrees, citing biblical, historical and political links to the
land as well as security interests.

Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank and

in the Gaza Strip, which Israeli forces left in 2005, with East
Jerusalem as its capital. They say settlement construction
could deny them a viable and contiguous country.

Some 550,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and

East Jerusalem, areas that are home to more than 2.6

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3/21/2017 Israel removes settlers from homes on private Palestinian land | Top News | Reuters
million Palestinians.

Three weeks ago, Israel's parliament retroactively legalized

about 4,000 settler homes built on privately owned
Palestinian land. The new law did not apply to Amona or the
nine dwellings in Ofra because of standing court rulings.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January,

Israel has announced plans to build 6,000 more settler
homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

But at a White House news conference with Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu on Feb. 15, Trump startled the Israeli
leader by saying he would like to see him "hold back on
settlements for a bit". Netanyahu later said he hoped to
"reach an understanding" with Trump on settlements.

(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Thomson Reuters 2017 All rights reserved.

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