Dozens of Jewish settlers rampaged through the West Bank town of Hebron on Sunday after Israeli troops removed an illegal settlement outpost, Palestinian residents said. Witnesses said the settlers hurled rocks at houses, vandalised several Muslim graves in a local cemetery and slashed the tyres of cars belonging to Palestinian residents near the Kiryat Arba settlement.
The violence broke out after Israeli security forces removed several settlers from a building outside an existing settlement. "A settlement outpost was evacuated and several settlers were arrested," an Israeli army spokesman said. Military radio said five settlers had been arrested and charged with assaulting soldiers.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak slammed the settlers' actions, but also accused the legal system of leniency towards the Jewish population in the occupied West Bank. "I would like to underline the severity of the actions and statements made by the extreme-right in the territories," Barak's office quoted him as saying during a weekly cabinet meeting.
"I believe that the punishment is too soft and that the legal and justice system must pay attention to that," the former army chief said.
The incident came a day after more than 500 Palestinian police reinforcements fanned out across the town as part of a widening security crackdown to bolster stalled US-backed peace talks. It also comes amid a surge in settler violence directed against Palestinians and Israeli security forces.
With more than 160,000 Palestinian residents, Hebron is the largest town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and has long been a regional flashpoint because of a settlement of around 800 hard-line Jews in the heart of the town.
The settlement is guarded by hundreds of Israeli soldiers who remain in Hebron despite the additional Palestinian forces, which will only patrol Arab neighbourhoods and villages. Israel has said its troops will continue to operate everywhere in the West Bank to prevent attacks on its citizens and settlers.