Hundreds of West Bank settlers, some armed with primitive weapons and stun grenades, on Monday prepared to confront troops sent to evict them from their homes in the heart of biblical Israel.
Israeli officials expressed fears that the settlers, their numbers swelled by hordes of radical sympathisers, may have even stockpiled pistols in a bid to thwart the evacuation of their two hard-line settlements, expected to begin on Tuesday.
As the security forces braced for a possible confrontation, heavy earth-moving equipment and steamrollers were clearing the ground around Sanur to allow a clear approach to the settlement, and mounted police gathered nearby.
”We are ready to deal with them and we are negotiating with them so that the withdrawal can be completed peacefully and quietly. If they have pistols, we are negotiating for them to give them up, but we are ready for all eventualities,” police spokesperson Shai Itzkovitch told reporters.
Troops were anticipating significant resistance in Sanur and the neighbouring settlement of Homesh, where hundreds of right-wing activists have massed in a bid to thwart the evacuation, the first time Israel leaves parts of the occupied West Bank.
Itzkovitch said those inside the two settlements have massed an arsenal of stones, sharp metal projectiles, knives, stun grenades, oil to pour on the road and possibly pistols.
As troops wrapped up their operation to evict settlers in Gaza, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the evacuation of the two northern West Bank settlements will begin on Tuesday and last no more than three or four days.
About 200 people were arrested overnight trying to infiltrate the two settlements, army radio reported, saying some were caught with flammable material, spikes and tins of paint.
Security sources believe there are about 1 200 people, both residents and infiltrators, in Homesh and at least 650 in Sanur.
Even residents are unhappy about the presence of so many protesters, many of them deeply religious, inside the two settlements.
Officials are concerned the protesters have stockpiled weapons and may even try to use them against the evacuation forces.
”It is hard for us to know for certain whether all the weapons were returned or whether there are some still in their possession,” Deputy Commander Amihai Shai told army radio.
”We have intelligence which indicates different means, which are not straightforward and which were not used in Kfar Darom,” he said, referring to the dramatic protests seen in Gaza last Thursday when protesters hurled acid at police attempting to evict them.
Itzkovitch told said 5 000 police officers and soldiers will deploy in the operations to empty Homesh and Sanur, which will begin at sunrise.
Several thousand demonstrators were to march to the northern West Bank on Monday evening in a bid to try to prevent the imminent evacuation of the settlements.
On Sunday, angry protesters hurled stones and slashed tyres of military vehicles on the outskirts of Sanur shortly after the Cabinet gave its final approval for the evacuation of the West Bank settlements.
A soldier was taken to hospital after being beaten up.
”The evacuation of settlers from the northern West Bank is another matter. I ask them to find resistance of another kind,” Chief of Staff Dan Halutz told journalists on Sunday.
Halutz said a Molotov cocktail had been thrown at a military vehicle but army spokespersons later said settlers had poured oil over the vehicle and set it alight.
Residents of two other doomed settlements in the area, Ganim and Kadim, have already left. — Sapa-AFP