Dozens of Palestinian activists on Tuesday tried to return to the Bab El-Shams outpost they erected in the controversial E1 area after an Israeli forced evacuation, police sources confirmed to Xinhua.
Police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld told Xinhua Tuesday that the Judea and Samaria police department (in charge of the West Bank) managed to push back the activists and 10 were arrested for violating a restricted military zone prohibiting entry to the area.
"Around 50 activists attempted to enter the camp, but there was police border already there. The protesters were told it was a closed military area, but they anyway tried to go up the hill, so stun grenades were used and they made their way back down the hill, " the spokesman said.
The Palestinian activists reportedly made their way to the place by foot and were chased by border guards who used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowds, the Times of Israel website reported.
According to Palestinian activists at the scene, security forces arrested dozens of people and were violent towards the protesters.
"No one was hit or beaten, or detained. Security forces released eight protesters that were questioned at the scene," said Rosenfeld.
The makeshift outpost between Jerusalem and the West Bank was evacuated early Sunday, along with its 120 Palestinian residents. However, 25 tents remained standing due to a court order calling to withhold the tents' demolition.
It was erected on Friday by 200 activists in protest of Israel' s recent announcements that it plans to build housing units for settlers on this territory, some of which they say belongs to Palestinians.
Over the weekend, the Supreme Court decided to halt the removal of the tent camp after four Bedouin families claimed the land was theirs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the evacuation over the weekend, as Israel charges that at least some of the settlement has been erected on a closed military zone land.
Israel's intention to build housing units in the E1 territory has angered the international community, since such a move would block a territorial contiguity for a future Palestinian state.
The State Attorney's Office (SAO) charged for the state that letting the outpost remain could unrest and prompt "national and international consequences," and maintained that the court order prevents them from clearing the tents, but not the people populating them.
"An urgent evacuation is needed because of urgent security concerns in order to prevent a serious breach of public order," Osnat Mandel from the SAO wrote in the state's request on Saturday.
Front Page Features