Police boot Israelis from settlement

JERUSALEM -- Israeli police evicted 200 Jewish settlers Thursday from a makeshift encampment on West Bank land where Palestinian militants killed 12 Israelis last month.

Shouting through loudspeakers and backed by soldiers, police ordered the settlers off the settlement crudely constructed on a road into the West Bank city of Hebron. The site was near where Islamic Jihad militants ambushed Israeli soldiers and security guards on Nov. 15.

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah, an 11-year-old Palestinian girl, Nada Madi, was shot to death while watching a funeral from the window of her home, her cousin Mohammed Madi said. He said she was shot by Israeli soldiers.

The expulsion of the settlers took place overnight in driving rain, with police arresting three settlers for allegedly assaulting security officers.

David Wilder, spokesman for Hebron settlers, accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government of ordering the eviction to divert attention from a corruption scandal embroiling his Likud Party ahead of parliamentary elections.

"This morning's eviction of families and others from the 'Hebron Heroes' neighborhood and the demolishing of the site was a disgrace, another stain on Ariel Sharon's already filthy shirt," Wilder said.

Riding a wave of Israeli anger after the attack, the settlers set up "Hebron Heroes" in hopes of establishing permanent homes on the route to the nearby Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Volatile city

A Defense Ministry statement hours before the eviction gave little explanation for the operation in Hebron, a divided city long plagued by religious tensions and flashes of violence.

"Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided to evacuate the outpost in Hebron because it is an illegal outpost built on private Palestinian land," the statement said.

Israeli tanks entered the town of Deir al-Balah in Gaza early Friday, surrounding the house of an Islamic Jihad activist. Incursions into Palestinian areas in Gaza take place almost every night, as Israeli forces destroy houses belonging to suspected militants.

In the shooting in Rafah, Palestinian witnesses said Madi, a girl who lived near an Israeli military post, died when Israeli soldiers fired during the funeral of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy killed the day before. An Israeli army spokeswoman said she was unaware of a girl being killed but that troops near the border had fired at armed men seen entering and leaving a building frequently used as cover for gunmen shooting at soldiers.

Israel Radio said the girl was apparently hit by a stray bullet.

Near the West Bank town of Jenin, an Israeli tank ran into a Palestinian minibus, killing a passenger. Witnesses said it appeared to be an accident, but the driver said the tank hit the vehicle intentionally. The military had no immediate comment.

In the West Bank town of Tulkarem, troops demolished the home of a Palestinian they say carried out an attack last month on an Israeli communal farm in which five people were killed. The alleged gunman remains at large.

In overnight raids throughout the West Bank, troops rounded up more than 20 Palestinians suspected of involvement in attacks on Israelis, the military said.

During Israel's forays into the West Bank in recent months, the army has detained thousands of Palestinians in roundups that government officials say have slowed, but not halted, attacks on Israel.

In Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers seized the camera of an Associated Press Television News journalist who was filming troops at the Church of the Nativity. The soldiers took the tape and returned the camera.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Thursday he would like to attend Christmas festivities in Bethlehem. However, Israel has made it clear that Arafat will not be permitted to make the short trip from his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, where he has been marooned for a year.

"I would like to go to participate in the Christmas services in Bethlehem," said Arafat, emerging briefly from his office building. "I would like to go to Gaza, to Nablus, to Hebron, to face the troubles our people are facing."

A photographer for the French news agency Agence France-Presse was beaten by Israeli border police at a checkpoint near Nablus on Thursday, the agency said. Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based watchdog group, issued a protest. Neither the border police nor the military would comment.

In another development, Israeli opposition leader Amram Mitzna said Thursday he would only allow his Labor Party into a coalition government that accepted his policy of withdrawal from Palestinian territories.

Mitzna leads his party into general elections Jan. 28. He has said that if elected, he will seek a negotiated treaty with the Palestinians, but if a deal is not attainable he will order a unilateral Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

"We are not partners in any grouping which is not based on a political program leading to separation from the Palestinians," Mitzna said.

Earlier this week, he had ruled out any alliance with Likud. Sharon says a national unity government is essential as Israel battles a 26-month-old Palestinian uprising and a major economic slump.