Hundreds of right-wing activists gathered in the West Bank settlement of Ofra, as Israeli police begin the evacuation of nine settler homes slated for demolition on Tuesday.

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the homes were illegally built on private Palestinian land and ordered them evicted by March 5. The court rejected last minute petitions to halt the demolition or have the buildings sealed off.

Dozens of youths barricaded themselves in some of the houses, climbing on the roofs, shouting slogans at the police officers, and calling them “Nazis.” A 17-year-old was arrested after he attacked the police. Three officers were slightly injured, Haaretz reported.

Police had to carry some of the residents out of their houses as they refused to leave on their own. Some of the settlers even announced hunger strikes in protest of the evacuation.

“We feel that this is not right at all, what’s being done here: the destruction of these homes in the center of a Jewish town, in the center of a populated town that was established legally 42 years ago,” said Eliana Passentin, a spokeswoman for the local settler regional council, Reuters reports.

Leading rabbis have also gathered at the West Bank settlements to support the families from the nine homes. Earlier this month, over 5,000 people protested the evacuation at a demonstration in Ofra, with the leader of the National-Religious rabbis, Haim Druckman, addressing the public and saying “we will continue to settle the Land of Israel… We are not thieves.”

All Israeli settlements are considered to be illegal according to international law, yet there are around 550,000 Israelis living in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.</s>(JTA) — Hundreds of Israeli police officers evacuated three of nine homes slated to be demolished in a West Bank settlement.

The homes located in the West Bank settlement of Ofra were ordered demolished by Israel’s Supreme Court after it was determined that they were built on Palestinian-owned land. The evacuation began Tuesday ahead of a March 5 court-ordered deadline for tearing them down.

Families in eight of the homes agreed to evacuate peacefully, but hundreds of pro-settlement youth have taken over the remaining house, which was unoccupied.

One teen has been arrested and three police officers injures so far in the evacuation.

The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request to seal the homes instead of demolishing them, The court also determined that the arrangements law, which legalizes West Bank outposts built on private Palestinian land, does not apply to these homes.

The homes were built in 2008.</s>JERUSALEM (JTA) — Hundreds of Israeli police officers completed the evacuation of nine homes slated to be demolished in a West Bank settlement.

Bulldozers moved in late Tuesday to start the demolitions of the homes in Ofra, which were ordered razed by Israel’s Supreme Court after it was determined they were built on Palestinian-owned land. The evacuation of the settlement was completed Wednesday ahead of a March 5 court-ordered deadline for tearing down the homes.

Eight of the nine houses had been evacuated mostly peacefully on Tuesday. Officers led tearful residents and protesting teens from the homes, which had already been emptied by the owners of their possessions.

The ninth building, which had been filled inside and on the roof with protesting youths, was evacuated by noon Wednesday, after which demolition also began.

In total, 15 protesters were arrested and 21 police officers were lightly injured, Ynet reported.

On Monday, the Supreme Court denied a request to seal the homes rather than demolishing them. The court also determined that the arrangements law, which legalizes West Bank outposts built on private Palestinian land, does not apply to these homes.

The homes were built in 2008.</s>Israeli police on Tuesday began removing residents and protesters from nine West Bank settler homes set to be demolished under a Supreme Court ruling.

The homes in the Ofra settlement -- a symbol of Jewish settler defiance to international concerns -- were found to have been built on private Palestinian land and ordered razed by March 5.

On Tuesday police were entering the homes and removing young protesters one at a time, an AFP reporter said.

One youth was arrested for attacking officers, according to a police statement.

Police said they would act with restraint but would not tolerate violence. Eight families had agreed to leave their homes ahead of time, police said.

Leaders of the Ofra community said they were intent on preventing clashes with security forces such as those that took place during the eviction of the nearby Amona outpost three weeks ago, where youths barricaded themselves in the synagogue and wounded Israeli forces with stones and acid.

Amona residents announced they would begin a hunger strike on Wednesday until the government kept its committment to build them a new settlement.

More than 400,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Most of the international community sees settlements as a major obstacle to peace, as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Israel distinguishes between settlements it has authorised and those built without permission.</s>Amid protesters’ cries of “Jews don’t expel Jews,” hundreds of Israeli police Tuesday enforced a high court order to extract residents from nine homes illegally built on private property belonging to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Protesters at the Ofra settlement carried banners blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government for enforcing the court’s orders and some demonstrators scuffled with police as officers dragged dozens of people out of the homes.

The Ofra evacuation dealt a second blow in less than a month to Israel’s powerful movement supporting Jewish settlers. It came only weeks after Israel carried out a rare removal of several hundred settlers at the nearby Amona hilltop outpost.

Though the settler lobby has been emboldened to press for settlement expansion and annexation because of President Trump’s apparent recent step back from endorsement of a Palestinian state, the evacuations highlight Israel’s ongoing trials over how to handle thousands of settler homes built on Palestinian property.

“This is a fight for all of Judea and Samaria,” said protester Raphael Rosenfelder, 19, referring to the territories of the West Bank by their biblical names. “Last month they kicked out 40 families at Amona. Now its these nine houses. Next it will be a settlement with thousands of families.”

Some protesters had crowded inside and on the roof of one of the houses.

To block future court-ordered settlement evacuations like those at Ofra and Amona, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a controversial law in February allowing for the retroactive expropriation and legalization of outposts and settlement homes built on property belonging to Palestinians.

The law, which opponents say legalizes land theft and marks a de-facto annexation of West Bank land, stirred criticism from Palestinians, some Israelis and the international community. Israel’s attorney general is refusing to defend the legislation when the Supreme Court considers an appeal against the law.

Israeli supporters of the law say it is necessary to prevent legal challenges brought by a minority of human rights groups seeking to reverse government policies.

Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group that petitioned the high court in 2008 with landowners from the village of Ein Yabrud, welcomed the implementation of the demolition order.

“It is unfortunate this was not done before the houses were inhabited,’’ the statement said.

Outside each of the nine houses, protesters opposed to the evacuations hung giant banners with portraits and the names of each family. The banners also were critical of the government, using sarcasm with a statement reading, “This is a right-wing government.’’

Minutes after Israeli police escorted him out of his home of the last nine years, Netzach Brodt, a 32-year-old lawyer, stared blankly at the ground while vowing to build a bigger house elsewhere in the settlement for his wife and three young children. The family likes Ofra, which has a population of several thousand people, he said.

Brodt said he was unaware of a legal challenge when he bought the two-story house.

“We’re going to take a [financial] hit .… We’re scarred from the whole situation,’’ he said. “We have hard feelings toward successive Israeli governments, who, since the Six Day War hasn’t had the courage to say what the policy is in Judea and Samaria.”

Palestinians and much of the international community consider all Israeli building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal. In recent months the United Nations, the U.S. and European countries warned that settlement expansion was rapidly endangering prospects for peace through a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.

“This a long time in the making and an excruciating process for the landowners. It took many years,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization. “They shouldn’t have been allowed to settle there in the first place.”

There was significantly less resistance in Ofra than at the Amona evacuation, which attracted thousands of protesters who barricaded themselves in mobile homes, chained themselves together and resisted police over two days.

Israel’s police spokesman said 100 people were carted out of Ofra on buses, and 11 officers suffered minor injuries. Hundreds of protesters joined the families in the houses to make the evacuation more difficult.

“We left crying,” said Naama Shtern, an 18-year-old high school student who said she joined the families in the houses to disrupt the evacuations.

“The land of Israel is dear to us. It hurts that a right-wing government is doing this.”

By dusk, Israeli heavy machinery began demolishing the houses. Watching police struggle with protesters, Nissim Slomiansky, a lawmaker from the pro-settlement Jewish Home Party, said he hoped the new legalization law would help prevent such scenes in the future.

“I hope these will be the last places evacuated,” he said. “In a modern and democratic country, those who determine policy is the Knesset — which is the sovereign — and not the court.’’</s>Israeli policeman grabs a young settler from the West Bank settlement of Ofra, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017. Israeli forces began evacuating nine homes in the settlement following a Supreme Court decision that ruled they were built on private Palestinian land.

OFRA, West Bank — Israeli forces began evacuating nine homes in the West Bank settlement of Ofra on Tuesday, following a Supreme Court decision that ruled they were built on private Palestinian land.

Dozens of settlers and their supporters were protesting on the rooftops as military and police forces handed the evacuation orders to settler leaders and asked them to cooperate peacefully and avoid confrontation.

Brig. Gen. Yoram Sofer pleaded with the settlers "to act according to moral standards, to assist us and not to use violence."

One of the residents defiantly tore up the order while others, mainly youths, were carried away by troops tasked with clearing the area. No major disturbances were reported.

Earlier this month, Israeli forces uprooted Amona, a nearby West Bank outpost, following a similar court order. The forces removed residents and hundreds of their supporters in sometimes violent clashes as they dismantled a community that had become a symbol of Jewish settler defiance.

The outpost of Amona was the largest of about 100 unauthorized outposts erected in the West Bank without formal permission but generally with tacit support from the Israeli government. It was the scene of violent clashes between settlers and security forces during a partial demolition in 2006.

Such evacuations have created tension in the hard-line coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been caught between appeasing his pro-settler coalition allies and respecting the rulings issued by the Supreme Court.

The Palestinians and most of the international community consider both outposts and settlements illegal and see them as an obstacle to creating a Palestinian state.

The Palestinians want the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war — for their future state. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, and the territory was subsequently overrun by the Hamas militant group.</s>OFRA, Palestinian Territories: Israeli police on Tuesday began demolishing nine West Bank settler homes declared illegal by the Supreme Court, despite hundreds of protesters barricading themselves in them.The homes in the Ofra settlement, a symbol of Jewish settler defiance to international concerns, were found to have been built on private Palestinian land and ordered razed by March 5. Police cleared protesters from the houses one at a time over several hours, an AFP reporter said. They had cleared eight of the nine houses but dozens of predominantly young protesters made a final stand on the roof of the ninth. Two people were arrested for attacking officers, a police statement said, and eight officers were lightly injured, including by being bitten. Leaders of the Ofra community said they were intent on preventing major clashes like those during the eviction of the nearby Amona settlement three weeks ago, where youths barricaded themselves in a synagogue and attacked security forces. Amona residents announced they would begin a hunger strike on Wednesday until the government kept its commitment to build them a new settlement. The Palestinian information ministry denounced what it said was a media stunt.</s>In this Feb. 1, 2017 file photo, stones are placed on the road outside the West Bank outpost of Amona, overlooking the settlement of Ofra. On Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, Israeli forces started to evacuate nine homes in the West Bank settlement of Ofra following a Supreme Court decision that they were built on private Palestinian land.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Houston Chronicle.</s>OFRA, Palestinian Territory - Israeli forces began evacuating nine homes in the West Bank settlement of Ofra on Tuesday, following a Supreme Court decision that ruled they were built on private Palestinian land. Dozens of settlers and their supporters were protesting on the rooftops as military and police forces handed the evacuation orders to settler leaders and asked them to co-operate peacefully and avoid confrontation.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Penticton Herald.</s>OFRA, West Bank (AP) - Israeli forces are demolishing nine homes in the heart of the West Bank settlement of Ofra after the Supreme Court ruled they were built on private Palestinian land.

Netzach Brodt watched as his house was destroyed and said, "We are extremely disappointed and broken that this house is being torn down."

The international community mostly views settlements as an obstacle to creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel in territory it captured in the 1967 war.

Last month forces uprooted nearby Amona, a community that had become a symbol of the settlement movement.

The moves created tension in the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is caught between appeasing his pro-settler coalition allies and respecting court rulings.
Hundreds of right-wing activists gather to protest the court-ordered demolition of the Israeli settlement Ofra, which was built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank. Israeli police are evacuating nine homes in the settlement, despite hunger strikes and people barricading themselves inside.