JERUSALEM, March 20 (UPI) -- Dozens of settlers entered an unoccupied Palestinian building in the West Bank city of Hebron claiming they own it, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
The building is located near the the route settlers use to reach the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the Israeli-controlled section of the divided city.
According to Haaretz, the settlers said they bought the structure for $700,000 and that they will invest hundreds of thousands of dollars more to complete the construction.
The settlers' spokesman, Noam Arnon, claimed the purchasing process was done through a Jordanian office. Since it has been under construction no one was evacuated from it, he added.
However a Palestinian, Mohammed Al-Baradei, claimed he was the owner said, "Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar."
Tension between settlers and Arabs in Hebron has usually been particularly high with settlers moving into structures they claimed were owned by Jews. They often responded to Arab attacks by destroying Arab property.
Soldiers stationed there complained that settlers let their children attack Arabs and that because of the children's young age they cannot be punished.
The Israeli government has promised to evacuate illegal settlements in the West Bank but apart from a fight over a few houses built on privately owned Arab land near Ramallah has done nothing significant. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's media adviser, Miri Eisin, said Monday that illegal settlements will be evacuated but Olmert wants to do so through a dialogue.
