Tel Aviv - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni late Wednesday slammed the scores of radical Jewish settlers who have been rioting in the southern West Bank city of Hebron over the past few days, clashing with Israeli police and soldiers. "This phenomenon must stop," she said, adding Israel would not allow settlers to turn areas in Jewish settlements in the West Bank into "Wild West areas."
"This is a group which does not recognize the ability or the right of the government and the courts to make decisions, or of the Israeli army to act," Israel Army Radio quoted her as telling activists convening in the Tel Aviv offices of her centrist Kadima party.
Livni, a leading candidate in the upcoming Israeli elections on February 10, called on other candidates to speak out as well against the settlers' violence against the Israeli authorities.
"There won't be situation whereby a citizen raises his hand against a police officer or a soldier," she said.
Tensions in Hebron have reached a boiling point since large numbers of radical and hardline Jews arrived as "reinforcements" in the divided city to help prevent the planned eviction by Israel of Jewish settlers from a disputed house.
Their arrival follows a Supreme Court order of two weeks ago that the building must be evacuated and handed over to the Israeli government until a lower court rules whether a Jew or a Palestinian are its rightful owner.
