- JERUSALEM - Jewish settlers
in the West Bank Friday re-occupied one of the illegal outposts dismantled
by the Israeli army earlier this week. The move is the first sign of active
resistance to a campaign by the Israeli government to remove all Jewish
settlements built without government approval.
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- Jewish settlers returned Friday to an outpost near the
West Bank city of Nablus that had been evacuated by Israeli soldiers the
day before.
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- The outpost, Beit Hanotzrim, was the only one of the
eight settlements dismantled by the army on Thursday that was inhabited.
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- Twelve such outposts, most of them consisting of a small
number of trailers, have been removed this week. Six were taken down by
the settlers themselves.
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- Israel's defense minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, has
ordered the army to move against a total of 24 outposts built without government
approval.
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- Jewish settler leaders have opposed the government plan,
saying it amounts to a reward for Palestinian terrorism.
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- The re-occupation of Beit Hanotzrim came one day after
an Israeli woman was killed and scores more injured in a Palestinian suicide
bombing in Tel Aviv.
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- Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, claimed responsibility
for the attack.
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- Meanwhile, in an effort to end clashes between Hamas
supporters and Palestinian police, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has
dispatched senior members of his security forces in the West Bank to the
Gaza Strip to help restore calm.
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- Thousands of police and armed members of Mr. Arafat's
Fatah faction participated in the funeral in Gaza on Thursday of a police
commander killed by suspected Hamas activists.
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- An 18-year-old Hamas supporter died Thursday of wounds
sustained during fighting with Palestinian police on Monday. His death
brought to five the number of Hamas activists killed this week in clashes
with Palestinian police.
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