Settlers in Hebron Clash With Authorities Over Israeli Withdrawal

Jewish settlers clashed with authorities who prevented them from occupying three empty houses in Hebron on Wednesday as negotiators struggled to finalize an Israeli withdrawal from the volatile city.

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s top deputy said a pullout agreement was possible within a week, but Mahmoud Abbas warned that actions by Jewish settlers could torpedo the deal.

David Wilder, a spokesman for the Hebron settlers, said they occupied the houses to show Israel’s government that “the situation is serious, and we’re serious.”

The settlers claim their security will be at risk if the city is turned over to Palestinian control.

Police and soldiers evicted the settlers and chased them across the rooftops of the city’s crowded casbah.

One settler was slightly injured and was taken away in an ambulance. Police detained 17 settlers but released all but two by evening.

Separately, five Palestinians were arrested after three Molotov cocktails were thrown at army positions in downtown Hebron. No one was hurt.

Hebron is swarming with Israeli troops trying to maintain calm as negotiators attempt to seal an agreement on the nine-month-overdue troop withdrawal, which will cede most of the city to Palestinian control.

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators met all day in Jerusalem after Tuesday’s one-on-one talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Arafat provided momentum but fell short of an agreement.

The talks adjourned Wednesday evening and were to resume today.

U.S. envoy Dennis Ross, whose efforts helped the sides make progress this week, left for Washington on Wednesday and was to return next week.

Ross said he would give President Clinton a “positive report” on the week’s talks.

A deal on Hebron--the last West Bank city under Israeli control--would be the first major development in the peace process since Netanyahu was elected in May.

The Israeli-controlled area is to include the scattered Jewish enclaves where 500 Jewish settlers live--as well as surrounding neighborhoods that are home to at least 15,000 Palestinians. About 100,000 Palestinians live in the city.

Israel was to have pulled out of Hebron in March but postponed the move after a series of suicide bombings in Israel. Netanyahu delayed the withdrawal further in hopes of improving security for the settlers.

Israel TV reported that several right-wing rabbis signed a document calling on Jews not to cooperate with the Hebron pullout plan because abandoning parts of the biblical Land of Israel would be against Jewish law.