Hebron squatters agree to leave Palestinian market

"We have reached an agreement, under terms of which Jewish properties in Hebron will remain in our hands," said Noam Arnon, a spokesman for the Jewish settlers in Hebron.

"We will continue with our mission, which is to build Hebron," he said.

"We consider the agreement reached with the Israeli authorities to be a great victory as the nine Jewish families (who are temporarily leaving) will be able to return very soon," said David Wilder, another settler spokesman.

The majority of the 600 settlers living in Hebron's Jewish quarter appeared happy with the agreement, under terms of which the nine families will voluntarily leave the market place by midnight (2200 GMT) on Monday.

In exchange for the settlers' peaceful departure, the authorities had pledged to expedite ongoing legal proceedings which will allow the settlers to legally reoccupy the Palestinian-owned marketplace, media reports said.

But Attorney General Menahem Mazuz denied any agreement had been reached, publishing a statement in which he said the state had made "no compromises with or promises to" the squatters, who are illegally occupying the market.

The opposition Labour party immediately slammed the alleged agreement with "those troublemakers in Hebron" describing it as "a capitulation by (Acting Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert, which showed his inability to take firm decisions".

Olmert gave the order for thousands of police and soldiers to begin evacuating the Hebron squatters on Tuesday, following several days of violent skirmishes between hardline settlers and the security forces.

The market was closed 12 years ago after an extremists settler named Baruch Goldstein shot dead 29 Palestinians praying in Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs, a shrine holy to both Jews and Muslims.

Arguing that the original owners of the property were Jews who lived there before Israel's establishment in 1948, the squatters moved into the property in March 2001 following a deadly Palestinian shooting which left a 10-month old baby girl dead.

In 2003, the Supreme Court backed an appeal by Palestinian traders, ordering that the settlers be evicted and the market reopened, but the orders were never implemented.

Under a 1997 accord with the Palestinian Authority, Israeli troops evacuated 80 percent of the city but continue to protect some 600 settlers living around the Cave of the Patriarchs.

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