Jewish settler leader Rabbi Moshe Levinger and his wife, Miriam, were briefly detained by police this week following their arrest during an early morning raid at their home in the West Bank town of Hebron.
They were detained, along with five other settlers on Wednesday, when police came to arrest Miriam Levinger, who had ignored repeated court summonses to answer charges of assaulting a police officer in an earlier incident.
Levinger and his New York-born wife are founders of the Gush Emunim settlement movement that established Kiryat Arba in 1968, a year after Israel captured the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War.
The arrests came amid heightened tensions in Hebron as both settlers and Palestinians marked the anniversary of the massacre at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, where Jewish settler Dr. Baruch Goldstein killed 29 Muslim worshipers.
Disturbances were reported Wednesday at various flash points in Hebron, where Palestinian youths threw stones, tried to block roads and burned tires.
An Israeli soldier was reportedly lightly wounded in the head during a rock- throwing incident.
Israeli security sources were expected to remain on high alert against possible terror attacks throughout the week.
When a large force of Israeli police and soldiers arrived at the Levinger’s home in the Avraham Avinu enclave in the heart of Hebron, angry settlers tried to prevent the arrest. They surrounded the house and pelted the security forces with eggs and stones.
Israel Radio said the police broke down the door of the Levinger house before arresting the couple, who were subsequently taken to a Jerusalem court.
The Levinger’s were later released. A hearing was scheduled for June.
Meanwhile, supporters of Goldstein, who was beaten to death by worshipers at the site, planned to hold a graveside memorial for him later this week.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin warned that police would take action against militant settlers who praised Goldstein’s actions.
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