Israeli police arrest settler leader in West Bank

By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – Israeli police arrested the mayor of a West Bank Jewish settlement on Wednesday after protesters blocked security forces from entering the community to enforce a construction freeze.

The showdown was the most serious incident of settler unrest since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week announced the 10-month building freeze, which bars the construction of new homes in West Bank settlements.

Settler leaders have vowed to defy the order, which Netanyahu says is meant as a confidence-building gesture to get peace efforts with the Palestinians back on track.

Confronting the settlers could help Netanyahu convince skeptical Palestinians and a wary Obama administration that he's serious about resuming talks. The Palestinians are refusing to talk peace with Netanyahu and say his settlement freeze is a sham because it excludes certain projects as well as east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city they claim as a capital.

An Israeli advocacy group on Wednesday released a report showing a sharp rise in the number of east Jerusalem Arabs who were stripped of their residency in 2008. HaMoked said Israel's Interior Ministry revoked th6e residency of 4,577 east Jerusalemites in 2008 — more than 20 times the annual average of the previous 40 years. It cited official statistics obtained under a freedom of information request.

East Jerusalem Palestinians, in contrast to those in the West Bank, have residency rights that allow them to travel freely in Israel and entitle them to Israeli health care and social benefits. HaMoked's executive director, Dalia Kerstein, said the Interior Ministry action is aimed at cementing Israeli control over Jerusalem.

Inspection teams, joined by soldiers and police, have visited dozens of the roughly 120 Jewish settlements in the West Bank in recent days to enforce the order. The Israeli military said it has issued more than 60 orders to halt unauthorized construction and confiscated about a half-dozen pieces of heavy equipment.

The Palestinians have refused to start peace talks with Netanyahu unless he freezes all settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — captured areas they claim as parts of a future independent state. Some 300,000 settlers live in the West Bank, in addition to 180,000 Jewish Israelis living in east Jerusalem.

They have rejected Netanyahu's 10-month freeze as insufficient because it does not include east Jerusalem or 3,000 homes that were already under construction when the order was approved.