(JTA) — Israeli troops took over a religious seminary in Yitzhar in response to attacks on troops and Palestinians by residents of the West Bank settlement.
Gen. Nitzan Alon, head of the Israel Defense Forces’ Central Command, issued the eviction order Thursday in an operational directive, Army Radio reported. A company of border police officers is currently stationed in the building, according to the report.
The order followed riots Tuesday in which men from Yitzhar targeted Israeli troops and property to protest the razing of illegal structures at the settlement. So far, eight Yitzhar men have been arrested in connection with the incident, which ended with injuries to six border police troops and two settlers, as well as the destruction of an IDF guard post.
An army spokesperson told Army Radio Thursday that the IDF took control of the building housing the Od Yossef Chai seminary because “it is a forward base for the execution of violent actions against Palestinian villages and the security forces in the Yitzhar region.”
“The IDF and security forces view the recent violent occurrences and the disturbances to law and order as being serious and will employ all means to end this violence,” the spokesperson said.
