Israelis raze synagogue at outpost

TAPUAH WEST OUTPOST, West Bank -- Israeli army bulldozers razed a partially constructed synagogue and soldiers wrangled with dozens of settler demonstrators, in what may be a foreshadowing of similar showdowns if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon makes good on a promise to dismantle illegal settler outposts.

Like settler construction at dozens of other hilltops throughout the West Bank, the month-old wooden frame was erected without receiving government authorization. Sharon pledged last month to dismantle illegal installations as part of Israeli confidence-building measures under the stalled "road map" peace plan, but only a few uninhabited outposts have come down.

The relatively small demolition job yesterday -- some 10 mobile homes at the outpost were left untouched -- was overshadowed by the symbolism of wrecking a site of Jewish worship. The synagogue was particularly embarrassing for the government because it was erected as a memorial to Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose anti-Arab Kach movement was banned as racist by the Israeli parliament in the 1990s.

"This is a mistake. We didn't expect this kind of reaction," said Daniel Shukri, a former leader of Tapuah, a nearby settlement, as he watched bulldozers rip apart the construction job he had overseen. "We all know that few points of settlement begin with government authorization at the outset."

Meanwhile, in the southern Gaza Strip border town of Rafah, Israeli bulldozers flattened about 30 houses and a mosque in a refugee neighborhood, the Associated Press reported, citing Palestinian officials.

The army dispatched troops to the border area to look for tunnels booby-trapped with explosives, when soldiers came under fire from antitank missiles and snipers positioned in neighborhood residences, an army spokesman said.

The military spokesman said bulldozers sent to uncover the tunnels destroyed houses that served as cover for snipers and missile gunners, but could not estimate the extent of the damage. The spokesman denied Palestinian reports that the some of the houses were demolished with residents still inside.

In southern Lebanon, Israeli air force jets attacked two Hezbollah positions just a few miles north of the Israeli border. The army said the strike was retaliation for an attack Monday afternoon by Iranian-backed militia on an Israeli army bulldozer that had strayed onto Lebanese soil while clearing a minefield in the border area.

The scuffles at the Tapuah West Outpost involved only a few of the 300 soldiers and police, and about 100 settlers. Three soldiers were slightly injured and 23 demonstrators were arrested. Last June, security forces numbering in the thousands clashed with hundreds of settler protesters at nearby Mitzpeh Yitzhar outpost for an entire afternoon.

The army started the job shortly after Israel's Supreme Court rejected a settler appeal against the military order to dismantle the structure. Security forces blocked West Bank roads to prevent more demonstrators from arriving on the scene.

As the mouth of a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer hoisted a metal cabinet containing the synagogue's Torah scrolls before the demolition, two religious students writhed on the ground and moaned for divine intervention.

"God have mercy on the doers of injustice," said a yeshiva student who identified himself only as Ariyeh. "Whoever hurts Jews God will not forgive."

While settler leaders from Tapuah conceded that the structure lacked the necessary authorization, demonstrators pledged to rebuild the synagogue.

No representatives from the settler council in the West Bank and Gaza were on hand at the evacuation. Benny Elon, a prominent ultra-right member of Sharon's Cabinet, condemned the uprooting of Jews from any place in the West Bank, but criticized the settlers at Tapuah West for provoking the government with statements in the Israeli media about plans to teach Kahane's philosophy at the synagogue.

Dror Etkes, an outpost specialist from the left-wing group Peace Now, which opposes the settlements, said the demolition job was more of a public relations stunt than an indication of a serious intention to dismantle some 100 illegal outposts in the West Bank. Until now the government has never removed a populated outpost backed by the settlers' mainstream leadership, preferring instead to dismantle encampments of fringe settlers and unpopulated installations, Etkes said.

In the last few weekly Cabinet meetings, Sharon's government has announced plans to remove a handful of the outposts, though it has yet to take any action.

"They know exactly what they're doing," said Etkes. "They're not touching the real infrastructure of the outposts. They're touching the make-believe."

The army initially began to dismantle the structure piece by piece, using electric screwdrivers to undo the roofing and knocking plywood loose from the frame. Colonel Harel Knaffo said the deconstruction effort was the product of a compromise with the settlers to respect the building blocks of the synagogue.

But after a settler lunged for a ladder being used by one of the soldiers, the commanding officer said the deal was off and gave the order for the frame and the concrete foundation to be razed.

"They're taking down our roots, our heritage, and all that is sacred," said Rabbi Shmuel Cohen, who planned to become the synagogue's spiritual leader.