AL-KHADER, Israeli-Occupied West Bank -- The growl of bulldozers on a rocky, thorn-filled hilltop yesterday announced a new round of conflict over the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Israeli soldiers and police arrested 45 Palestinians and sympathetic Israelis who tried to block the bulldozers from carving out a new Jewish neighborhood of 500 houses near Bethlehem.
The confrontation brought calls by Palestinians for an end to their negotiations with Israel until Israel stops adding to Jewish settlements.
"The Israeli government must make a choice -- peace or settlements," said Saeb Erakat, Palestinian minister for municipal affairs. "They can't have both. And this shows they chose settlements." He reportedly was knocked out and his glasses smashed by an Israeli soldier during the protest.
Environmental Minister Yossi Sarid, a liberal member of the Israeli government, called for a halt in the construction pending a review of the case. Two other parliament members were removed by police after standing in front of the bulldozers.
About seven Palestinians were hurt in the pushing and shoving on the rough hillside. Israeli soldiers cleared the way for settlers to uproot dozens of olive tree saplings planted by the Palestinians.
"This peace process does nothing for us," said Amina Salah, 50, whose front tooth was broken in the scuffle. "The settlers have taken the land that came from our grandfathers."
The dispute over Jewish settlements has been relatively quiet since the September 1993 Israeli-Palestinians peace accord. That pact put off resolution of the settlements issue for three to five years.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who has been publicly critical of Jewish settlers, promised after his election in June 1992 that government support for the settlements would be curtailed.
Palestinians said they believed the settlements would be frozen until later negotiations. But they complain there has been a recent spurt in land confiscations by the Israeli government and new construction in the West Bank settlements.
They say the government is undertaking a frantic building campaign in advance of the peace talks. Israeli members of the "peace bloc" demonstrated with the Palestinians.
"This is part of a big offensive by the government of Israel to annex this whole territory and end the negotiations before they start," said Uri Avneri, an Israeli protester.
The confrontation came over a desolate hillside midway between the Arab village of Al-Khader and the Jewish settlement of Efrat, about four miles south of Bethlehem.
Officials of Efrat, a settlement of 5,000 residents built in the past 15 years, say the "Tamar" (Date) hill is an expansion of their
community, even though it is about a half-mile away. They say the Israeli government sold it to an association from their settlement in August 1993.
"The government owned it. We got it from the government," said Moshe Bel-Elisha, an official at Efrat. He dismissed the Palestinian villagers' claims that it is their land.
"They say also Haifa and Tel Aviv belongs to them. They have to prove it," he said.
Residents of Al-Khader, an old village of about 7,000 people, say the land has been owned by families from there for many generations. They say they have papers from both the Jordanian and Israeli officials proving Palestinian ownership.
"The Israelis show us [one] face while negotiating, and [another] face when they steal our land," said Nabil Musa, 26, of Al-Khader. "The Israelis have everything. They have the force. They have the guns. We have nothing but stones."
Most countries, including the United States, oppose Israel's settlements in the areas it captured during the 1967 war. International law prohibits occupying powers from seizing local lands for settlements, but Israel has nearly 150 guarded communities now filled with more than 120,000 settlers.
Virtually all of those settlements are built on land claimed by the 2 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Israeli government claimed much of the land was vacant, abandoned, or governmental land, and has transferred large tracts to Jewish settlers.
"Efrat belongs to us. All this land here belongs to us," insisted Hanan Porat, a settler leader and member of the parliament.
Yesterday, the protesters stood in front of the bulldozers and settlers' jeeps to try to protect the hillside. Israeli soldiers shoved and wrestled them out of the way.
"They come and take over this place by force," said Rutayah Salah, 30. "We must defend our land."
"I think it's a disaster for the peace process," said Tamar Gozansky, a member of a small Israeli-Arab party in the Israeli parliament. She stood before a bulldozer until police sent female officers to remove her. Female officers are used to deal with Jewish women but not Arab women.
Despite heated statements by some of his aides, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has not publicly threatened to stop the peace process over the settlements issue. Similarly, Mr. Rabin and his top officials have been silent on the issue.
But Palestinians in the West Bank are increasingly angry over the settlements and other Israeli moves that they say will block negotiations. On Monday, the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, passed a bill outlawing Palestinian political activities in Arab East Jerusalem.