The windswept site - on a hilltop near Ramallah - was cleared of protesters by around 9:00 am and workers with large flatbed trucks were preparing to take away the two mobile homes put there in recent weeks. Settlers packed furniture and supplies into a van and drove away, while mattresses, a refrigerator, chairs and other items remained scattered in the area.
Police said 23 officers were lightly wounded, while seven arrests had been made. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said they were enforcing a court order declaring the structures there illegal. After the confrontation, groups of young far-right activists, some with their faces covered, could be seen gathered in the nearby Israeli settlement of Ofra. "When the policemen arrived, they tried to break in (to the mobile homes) but failed, so they started firing tear gas inside," said Oren Amitai.