Israeli forces demolish illegal settler outpost

Israeli military forces evicted settlers from an illegal outpost early Thursday with clashes reported between residents and the army. Hundreds of security force personnel arrived at the Mitzpeh Yeriho settlement east of Jerusalem early Thursday, Haaretz quoted army radio reports as saying. Six houses were demolished and three Israeli police officers wounded as violent clashes broke out, the Israeli daily said. Last week, Israeli forces dismantled the illegal settler outpost of Mitzpe Avichai, near Hebron. A few days earlier, Israeli forces demolished four trailers at the illegal settlement outpost of Givat Gal Yoseph in the northern West Bank. The outpost is near the government-sanctioned Shilo settlement, which lies on the main passageway between Ramallah and Nablus. A Salfit mosque was vandalized by settlers in a 'price tag' revenge attack for the evacuation of Givat Gal Yoseph outpost. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that vandals painted "price tag" and "Gal Arye Yoseph" on the mosque walls.The term "price tag" is used by Jewish settlers to describe a policy of attacking Palestinians and their property in retaliation for perceived anti-settler actions by the Israeli government. Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The international community regards all settlements built on occupied Palestinian land to be illegal, while the Israel government distinguishes between the more than 100 state-sponsored settlements and dozens of unauthorized outposts.