Settlers, Palestinians Clash in Hebron

Jewish settlers overturned market stalls, Palestinians hurled stones and Israeli troops fired rubber bullets in a three-way melee Saturday in this divided town.

The renewed violence signaled how difficult it could be to carry out a future peace treaty, including evicting Israelis from communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinians said that was the message settlers in Hebron wanted to send Saturday.

"The settlers want to put pressure on the Israeli delegation (to the peace talks)," said Mustafa Natche, mayor of Hebron, a Palestinian town of 130,000.

Settler leader Noam Arnon denied the allegations. He said Palestinians have been throwing metal objects at settler homes in recent weeks, and that two women were injured Saturday. Israeli police said an Arab taxi struck and lightly injured a settler boy.

In response, settlers closed Shuhada Street, a main thoroughfare that passes by several of their heavily guarded compounds, to Palestinian traffic.

Fistfights erupted, and a group of about 40 to 50 settlers—men wearing skullcaps and white Sabbath shirts—walked into a nearby outdoor vegetable market, overturning stalls. Israeli troops intervened, scuffling with settlers and Palestinian vendors.

Tomatoes and cucumbers lay scattered on the ground. A Palestinian woman shopper in a long robe and head scarf held her hands to protect her head as she was hit by a young settler woman who cursed her.

Four soldiers pushed a Palestinian man into a van, pulling his hair. Another soldier kicked a Palestinian with his boots and rifle butt.

The beatings angered Palestinian bystanders who hurled stones at soldiers. Troops, in turn, fired rubber bullets to disperse the stone-throwers.

Three Palestinians were hospitalized with injuries from beatings. An Israeli soldier was also hurt.

Nasser Amr, 25, one of the Palestinians involved in the scuffles, said he would not accept any peace agreement that allowed the Hebron settlers to remain.

"The situation will always remain tense between us and the settlers. We cannot live together," said Amr.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has been vague about his plans for Hebron. Earlier this year he suggested that he wanted the settlers to be able to remain indefinitely in the city, the burial place of biblical patriarchs.

However, Israeli media reports have said that in peace negotiations, Barak was considering setting a limit of 13 to 15 years during which the settlers would have to leave Hebron.

Barak has said he wanted to keep 80 percent of the 200,000 settlers under Israeli rule as part of a peace treaty.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, meanwhile, said he would declare the conflict with Israel over only after all issues have been settled, including the future of Jerusalem.

Arafat was responding to Barak's statement Thursday that he was ready to accept Palestinian statehood, provided the Palestinians proclaimed an end to the conflict with Isrel.

Israel and the Palestinians face a Sept. 13 deadline to conclude a peace treaty, and U.S. envoy Dennis Ross is visiting the region to gauge prospects for a second Mideast summit at which a deal could be wrapped up.

On Saturday evening, Ross was to meet with the chief Israeli negotiator, acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami. Earlier in the day, Ross held talks with Egyptian leaders.

By NASSER SHIYOUKHI