Israel settlers, police clash ahead of outpost eviction

JERUSALEM (AA) – Hundreds of Jewish settlers clashed on Tuesday with Israeli police ahead of the evacuation of an illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank.

Angry settlers barricaded themselves inside a number of buildings to be demolished at the Netiv Ha’avot outpost in Gush Etzion near Hebron in the southern West Bank, according to Israeli daily Yediot Ahronoth.

Protesters set fire to tyres and garbage cans and began shoving the police, while dozens of them clashed with border police forces, the newspaper said.

Israel's High Court of Justice ordered the demolition of 15 homes illegally built on private Palestinian land after a petition filed by Israeli movement Peace Now, which includes names of Palestinian petitioners who own the land.

On Monday, thousands of people, including Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, attended a protest rally at the outpost.

Addressing protesters, Bennett accused the High Court of violating the rights of Israeli settlers.

Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 claiming it as the Jewish state's "undivided and eternal capital" -- a move never recognized by the international community.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement construction there as illegal.