Jewish settlers, Arabs fight over housing

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JERUSALEM -- Jewish settlers with assault rifles slung over their shoulders moved into two buildings in a crowded Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem yesterday, sparking clashes between Israeli troops and Arab residents.

Palestinians, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, condemned the incident. Israel says it will never relinquish the sector of the city it captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War.

In recent years, hawkish Jewish groups, with the backing of hard-line governments and foreign investors, have bought several East Jerusalem properties to strengthen Israel's hold there.

At daybreak yesterday, a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews lugged boxes, chairs, tables and potted plants into buildings in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

They said eight families are to move into two buildings -- a seven-story apartment building and a smaller house -- that investors bought for them. The Arab owner of the house disputed the settlers' ownership.

Clashes erupted in a narrow alley, and Palestinian residents began throwing stones from rooftops.

Police and soldiers ran onto nearby rooftops and fired tear gas at the demonstrators. Troops pulled young men out of nearby homes, beat one with a stick and dragged away six others in handcuffs.

Nine Palestinians were arrested for stone throwing, and six police officers were hurt, police said. At least three Palestinians were seen bleeding.

The settlers said they were members of the Committee for the Renewal of the Yemenite Village in Shiloah -- Hebrew for Silwan. They said their aim was to re-establish a Jewish presence in the neighborhood, home to the disputed holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

Daniel Luria, a committee spokesman, said a community of Jews from Yemen had been established in the area 122 years ago.

In 1938, the last of the families were forced to leave during Arab riots, he said.

"Sixty-six years later we have returned Jewish families to the area with the idea of living side-by-side with the Arabs," he said.

Raanan Gissin, adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the Jewish group had the right to live where it wanted in the city. "There are no Jerusalem settlements. ... All of Jerusalem is under Israeli sovereignty since 1967."

Also yesterday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia cautiously welcomed Mr. Sharon's plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, but only as a first step in peace efforts. Israel should not use the Gaza withdrawal as a cover to annex West Bank settlement blocs, as some in Mr. Sharon's government have proposed, Mr. Qureia said.

He also condemned Palestinian suicide attacks, which have killed more than 400 Israelis over the past 31/2 years, saying they are deepening hatred between Israelis and Palestinians and are an obstacle to peace.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops fatally shot a Palestinian militant who tried to launch an attack on a Gaza Strip settlement, Palestinian security sources said.

Early yesterday, Israeli soldiers destroyed the Hazon David settlement outpost -- a tent and a shack used as a synagogue -- near Hebron in the southern West Bank. Several hours later, about 300 settlers trying to rebuild the outpost clashed with security forces.