Robert Serry "alarmed" by demolition of Palestinian houses in West Bank; EU: Stop settler violence.
By AP, JPOST.COM STAFFsettlers rebuild federman farm 224.88(photo credit: Tovah Lazaroff)
The UN's Mideast envoy Robert Serry said Saturday he was "alarmed" by Israel's decision to resume house demolitions in the West Bank.
Earlier this week, Israel knocked down dozens of shacks in two West Bank villages, leaving dozens of Palestinians homeless.
Serry said Israel agreed in April to halt the demolitions and he urged it to reinstate the moratorium.
Israel's actions "send a discouraging signal" about Israeli support for efforts to improve living conditions in the West Bank and to build Palestinian backing for peacemaking, Serry added in a statement.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said at least some of the houses were built illegally on public land.
"The fact that the UN continues to ignore the specific circumstances of each case and prefers to express generalized criticism makes these statements very unhelpful," Palmor said.
Meanwhile on Friday, the European Union's French presidency urged Israel to take action to halt settler attacks on Palestinians near Hebron.
"The European Union once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank," the presidency said in a statement.
"The European Union would point out that it is up to the Israeli government, which has itself condemned these acts, to take the necessary measures to stop them immediately, in accordance with its international obligations," it added.
It came at the end of a week which began and ended with the increasingly familiar sight of an outpost demolition and rioting settlers.
On Friday morning, settlers clashed with police and Palestinians in the Kiryat Arba area following the demolition of an illegal structure built on the ruins of the Federman Farm outpost.
In response to the operation, settlers reportedly vandalized Palestinian fields and cars and hurled rocks at a Palestinian home. Some Palestinians responded by throwing stones back.
A photographer for the French news agency Agence France Presse was wounded when he was hit in the head by a stone thrown by settlers.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said four policemen were lightly wounded and three settlers were arrested. The three detainees were remanded in custody for three days.
On Friday afternoon, settlers returned to the site and built two wooden structures, Israel Radio reported.
Security forces had dismantled the outpost on Sunday and two homes - one belonging to the family of well-known far-right activist, Noam Federman, and the other to the family of singer Sinai Tor - were demolished.
The evacuation sparked an immediate protest by activists, who slashed the tires of Palestinian cars and vandalized a Muslim cemetery in nearby Hebron. They also threw stones at soldiers and damaged sections of the Kiryat Arba security fence.
A number of settlers went on the radio and threatened further violence should the evacuations continue. One even spoke of how he wished that IDF soldiers would be killed by their enemies.
By Sunday evening, activists had returned and built a small, white, one-room structure at the site and set up a generator.
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