Apr 11, 2007, 14:07 GMT
Tel Aviv - Israel Defence Minister Amir Peretz ordered settlers in Hebron Thursday to leave a house they were occupying within 30 days, after which they will be evacuated by force.
The settlers had entered the empty house in the divided southern West Bank city three weeks ago. They claimed they had purchased the building via a Jordanian company for 700,000 US dollars, but the owner of the property denied selling it.
Although some Israeli cabinet ministers insisted that the settlers be allowed to remain in the house if it had in fact been purchased legally, Peretz insisted that Israel could not 'accept a situation where buying a house or a land deal will determine the settlement map.'
'I am upholding the law. I am responding to the situation on the ground,' he told Israel Radio.
But Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz rejected a request for an immediate evacuation of the house and said a more extensive legal procedure was needed to allow the settlers to file petitions to determine the issue.
Interior Minister Roni Bar-On, meanwhile, demanded the cabinet discuss the issue at its weekly meeting next Sunday.
The settlers' right to the property was beyond dispute, he maintained.
Around 500 Jews live in a separate enclave among 160,000 Palestinians in the divided flashpoint city, a frequent focus of clashes between the two communities.
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