Israel to demolish rogue settlements

JERUSALEM - Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said he would uproot 10 rogue Jewish outposts in the West Bank overnight, setting the stage for possible confrontations with militant settlers.

The umbrella Yesha Council of Jewish settlements blasted Ben-Eliezer's decision as a "reward and encouragement for terrorism", after 21 months of bloodshed in a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

But the sight of troops dragging away settlers who have set up these outposts without official sanction could help him clip the wings of those in his Labour Party demanding he pursue a more moderate line in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition.

Ben-Eliezer has spearheaded the Army's current reoccupation of seven West Bank cities in response to two Palestinian suicide bombings that killed 26 people in Israel in one week last month.

Yesterday, a bomb planted on train tracks near the Israeli city of Lod blew up as a train passed, wounding three people and causing light damage to a train carriage. Officials said around 500 passengers were on the train.

In one of the most dramatic blows Israel has dealt in the West Bank offensive, Army engineers blew up the fortress-like Palestinian security headquarters in Hebron on Saturday where the military said 15 wanted militants had been holed up.

No bodies had been found by late yesterday. There was speculation the fugitives had earlier sneaked out of the hilltop complex through secret tunnels.

The four-storey headquarters was built during the British Mandate of Palestine in the late 1930s.

Israeli peace activists have estimated there are at least 60 rogue outposts - mini-settlements often comprising only a handful of caravans - dotting hilltops on West Bank land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

"By the end of the day ... [yesterday local time], 10 outposts have to come down. I intend to dismantle another 10 and continue with the policy," Ben-Eliezer said.

The Defence Minister said that he chose the outposts because their populations were small and they were too vulnerable to attack.

Sharon did not immediately comment on Ben-Eliezer's plans, a silence that suggested the Prime Minister did not see the removal of isolated outposts on security grounds as a political liability.

Some 200,000 Israelis live in 145 settlements that the world community largely views as illegal.

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

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