Israeli settlers evicted from outpost
September 2, 2012By the afternoon, all of the approximately 50 families had complied with the eviction orders issued by police early on Sunday.
This was confirmed by police spokesman Luba Samri, who told the AFP news agency in the afternoon that "everything is quiet here." Some police officers had assisted the settlers by helping them to pack up their things.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right-wing government had held negotiations with the settlers in an effort to avoid violence, expressed satisfaction at how smoothly the operation came off.
"This is how it should be, and how it will also be in the future," Netanyahu said in a statement released by the prime minister's office.
While the operation was largely peaceful, there were some scuffles between Israeli police and around 70 radical activists, before the latter were placed on buses and removed. Some had to be physically removed from rooftops. Eight people were arrested.
The United Nations regards all Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, but the government has approved more than half of the around 220 settlements in the territory that Israel captured in the 1967 war.
pfd/jr (Reuters, dpa, AFP)