Barak meets settlers over Hebron

There have been days of clashes around the house

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has met Jewish settler leaders over a disputed building in the mainly Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron.

Settlers are refusing to leave the house, in defiance of an Israeli Supreme Court order.

The meeting, the defence ministry said, was an effort to salvage a peaceful outcome after settlers clashed repeatedly with Israeli forces.

Following the meeting, Mr Barak insisted the eviction would go ahead.

"Only after the evacuation of the house will there be room for ending the disagreements," he said, according to a defence ministry statement.

"We will not allow radical elements to undermine the state's authority and foundations."

The settlers insist that they will not go voluntarily, and are reported to have asked Mr Barak to delay any decision on evicting them.

'Military area'

Jewish supporters have joined the settlers in a blockade of the building, throwing stones at Palestinians and the police.

Reports say some Palestinians have retaliated by throwing stones at the settlers and that a number of Palestinians and Israelis have been arrested.

Several people are reported to have been injured.

CITY OF HEBRON Divided into H1 and H2 under 1997 agreement 115,000 Palestinians live in H1 under Palestinian security control H2 is under Israeli security control and is home to several hundred settlers and 35,000 Palestinians Tomb of Patriarchs and traditional Palestinian town centre are in H2 In pictures: Fighting eviction Palestinian life: Splits and barriers Mixed emotions on Hebron tour Fact meets fiction in Hebron film

Tensions rose on Wednesday after Israel declared a large building occupied by settlers to be a "closed military area" and deployed hundreds of police and soldiers in the city.

Israeli forces then barred Jews from entering Hebron's Palestinian section.

On Tuesday, Jewish settlers rioted as rumours spread that troops were about to evict them.

About 600 Jewish settlers live in the mainly Palestinian city, with several thousand more in surrounding settlements.

Ownership of the building, known by the settlers as the "house of peace", is in dispute.

The Israeli military says Jewish settlers in other parts of the West Bank have also blocked roads and thrown stones at Palestinian cars.

Several hundred hard-line religious settlers live in the centre of Hebron under heavy military guard amid some 150,000 Palestinians.

The settlers say that they bought the house in question in a legal transaction from its Palestinian owner for nearly $1m (£660,000), but he says he pulled out of the deal.

Settlers have been involved in several clashes since the supreme court order was issued in November, and have desecrated a mosque and a Muslim cemetery.

Hebron is holy to both Jews and Muslims as the site of the cave that Abraham bought as a burial site for his wife Sarah.

All Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.