We will fight to the end, vow West Bank protesters

SANUR SETTLEMENT – Plumes of acrid black smoke and burning barricades awaited the Israeli troops who surged into the settlement of Sanur yesterday to clear radical Jewish settlers from the northern West Bank.

A towering blaze lit up the horizon shortly after sunrise as several teenagers, their faces masked by T-shirts, torched two huge piles of old furniture and tyres which had been dragged into the middle of the road. Overnight, protesters shut the main gate, built makeshift barricades and scattered boulders, spikes and oil across the streets in a bid to slow down the arrival of the evacuation troops.But it was all in vain.Within minutes of their arrival, troops wearing riot gear had cut through the perimeter fence and bulldozed the main gate before shoving the smoking barricades to the side of the road.As they surged in, protesters holed up in a former British fortress at the centre of the settlement blew several blasts on the shofar, a Biblical trumpet made of ram’s horn which is traditionally played at the outset of a battle.Soon however troops were cutting through the metal gates of the fortress after having cleared protesters barricaded inside a synagogue and religious seminary.Women broke down in tears at the side of the road as police began pulling down rows of tents pitched near the main gate.Fanning out through the streets, troops wasted no time in starting the evacuation process.At least two residents were carried silently out of their homes, while others were seen kicking and struggling as troops manhandled them on to waiting buses.Some were wearing an orange Star of David sewn to their clothes.Others clutched young children who silently watched the unfolding scenes of chaos.Still others were making a supreme effort to continue life as normal.One man was seen munching his cereal as the washing machine whirred in the background, seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of troops outside his door.On the rooftop of the fortress, several dozen religious teenagers and elderly men pranced around, shouting slogans at troops through a megaphone.”This is our land! God is with us!” they yelled, some of them with leather prayer pouches, called tefillin, strapped to their arms and foreheads.”You must let us stay here.”Troops managed to commandeer a water tower next to the fortress, but police spokesman Marc Kahlberg said protesters had rejected all attempts at mediation.”They don’t want to negotiate with us at all.There are only two families that live here: the rest are in this area illegally,” he told AFP.West Bank police chief Yisrael Yitzhak said the forces would not hesitate to respond should the protesters start firing in their direction.”If the extremists open fire against our forces, we will respond to neutralise them,” he said.”It is unbelievable.I feel like we are the worst people in the world,” said 46-year-old Tzippi Dagan as the scene unfolded around her.”Where were these soldiers during the Arab terror and shooting?” Although she said she would not be actively fighting the evacuation, she had nothing but support for those inside the fortress who were digging in to fight it out to the bitter end.”They have to fight, even symbolically,” she told AFP.- Nampa-AFPOvernight, protesters shut the main gate, built makeshift barricades and scattered boulders, spikes and oil across the streets in a bid to slow down the arrival of the evacuation troops.But it was all in vain.Within minutes of their arrival, troops wearing riot gear had cut through the perimeter fence and bulldozed the main gate before shoving the smoking barricades to the side of the road.As they surged in, protesters holed up in a former British fortress at the centre of the settlement blew several blasts on the shofar, a Biblical trumpet made of ram’s horn which is traditionally played at the outset of a battle.Soon however troops were cutting through the metal gates of the fortress after having cleared protesters barricaded inside a synagogue and religious seminary.Women broke down in tears at the side of the road as police began pulling down rows of tents pitched near the main gate.Fanning out through the streets, troops wasted no time in starting the evacuation process.At least two residents were carried silently out of their homes, while others were seen kicking and struggling as troops manhandled them on to waiting buses.Some were wearing an orange Star of David sewn to their clothes.Others clutched young children who silently watched the unfolding scenes of chaos.Still others were making a supreme effort to continue life as normal.One man was seen munching his cereal as the washing machine whirred in the background, seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of troops outside his door.On the rooftop of the fortress, several dozen religious teenagers and elderly men pranced around, shouting slogans at troops through a megaphone.”This is our land! God is with us!” they yelled, some of them with leather prayer pouches, called tefillin, strapped to their arms and foreheads.”You must let us stay here.”Troops managed to commandeer a water tower next to the fortress, but police spokesman Marc Kahlberg said protesters had rejected all attempts at mediation.”They don’t want to negotiate with us at all.There are only two families that live here: the rest are in this area illegally,” he told AFP.West Bank police chief Yisrael Yitzhak said the forces would not hesitate to respond should the protesters start firing in their direction.”If the extremists open fire against our forces, we will respond to neutralise them,” he said.”It is unbelievable.I feel like we are the worst people in the world,” said 46-year-old Tzippi Dagan as the scene unfolded around her.”Where were these soldiers during the Arab terror and shooting?” Although she said she would not be actively fighting the evacuation, she had nothing but support for those inside the fortress who were digging in to fight it out to the bitter end.”They have to fight, even symbolically,” she told AFP.- Nampa-AFP