|  Israeli forces, protesters clash at settlement -
01-02-2006, 06:19 PM
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli security forces clashed Wednesday with thousands of demonstrators before demolishing the illegal settlement at the center of the dispute.
With thick black smoke of burning tires filling the air, roughly 3,000 police and soldiers battled with about 2,000 protesters at the Amona outpost near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The protesters threw stones and steel rods at security forces, CNN's Guy Raz reported.
Security forces responded with batons and water cannons.
Israeli medical sources said 216 protesters and police were hurt, at least one of them with serious injuries.
Israeli police said 83 of their officers were injured, one of them seriously. There were also 32 arrests, police said.
In Jerusalem, Israeli parliament member Ronnie Bar-On said the Israeli government would no longer show restraint toward illegal settlements and protesters.
"We restrained ourselves in Gush Katif. We restrained ourselves in Hebron, in Yitzhar, and in outposts for a long time, even if people there physically injured security forces," Bar-On told Army Radio. "That's finished. The era of restraint has come to an end."
"We will not allow any law-breaker, even if he is a member of Knesset (Israel's parliament) ... to harm the state of Israel as a state of law," Bar-On added.
The Associated Press reported two right-wing members of parliament were injured in the clashes: Effie Eitam, a legislator from the far-right National Union Party, and Arieh Eldad.
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is widely expected to dismantle more illegal settlements, which number 100, if he and the centrist Kadima party founded by now-incapacitated Ariel Sharon win in March.
The latest polls also show strong Israeli public support for the crackdown on illegal settlers.
Amona was established during the second half of the 1990s on a hill about half a mile (1 kilometer) east of the Jewish settlement of Ofra.
But the Israeli Supreme Court ruled the houses were clearly built on land belonging to the Palestinians, a decision that cleared the way for the government to demolish a collection of nine buildings.
In protest, demonstrators rushed to the area and barricaded themselves inside the buildings, pouring paint and chemicals on security forces as they attempted to enter the buildings from below.
Last summer, Israeli forces forcibly removed about 8,000 settlers from Gaza and four small areas of the West Bank under the government's disengagement plan. Although dramatic scenes of settlers being dragged away by security forces unfolded before television cameras, there was little or no violence. | 
Israeli forces, protesters clash at settlement
