Jewish settlers expand West Bank enclave

HEBRON, West Bank - A group of Jewish settlers has moved into a new building in the West Bank town of Hebron, a spokesman for the settlers said, effectively expanding their enclave in the conflict-ridden area.

"We purchased a building in Hebron and have moved in after final legal matters were concluded. People are moving in tonight," David Wilder, a spokesman for settlers in Hebron, a largely Palestinian city and hotbed of conflict, said.

The settlers' action was a test for Israeli interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who won a March 28 election on a pledge to remove many Jewish settlements and set a border unilaterally with the Palestinians, in the absence of peace talks.

Wilder said an unspecified number of Israeli families were moving into the structure next to the Jewish settlement in Hebron which numbers about 400, in the city of 130,000 Palestinians.

The building in question had been unoccupied for some years but apparently was once the home of Palestinians, he said.

"We're cleaning the place at the moment. It's very, very dirty," Wilder added, but said that settler families including his daughter and grandchildren would sleep there on Thursday night.

Israeli military officials were checking the settlers' documentation for the building which settlers said they bought legally from a Palestinian owner, Israel Radio said.

A Palestinian security source denied that the building had been legally purchased, and said it still belonged to a Palestinian family.

- REUTERS