Peres says Jewish settlers make Hebron "unbearable"
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The presence of Jewish settlers inside the West Bank city of Hebron has created an "unbearable situation" for Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on Tuesday.
He was speaking a day after settlers took over a building under construction in Hebron, saying they had bought it.
A local Palestinian family disputed the ownership claim, saying it had purchased the windowless, three-storey structure from a Palestinian living in Jordan.
Peres told Israel's Army Radio the settlers should be evicted if they had acted unlawfully, but said a solution was needed in any case to the problem in Hebron.
Some 400 Israeli settlers live there in heavily guarded enclaves and the attempt to expand their presence was likely to stoke tensions in the city, where 150,000 Palestinians reside.
Peres said the settlement of Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron had been built so that a Jewish community would be living alongside, rather than within, a Palestinian community.
"It is very hard to have both at the same time," he said.
Asked directly if he thought Israel should retain Kiryat Arba but move settlers out of Hebron itself, Peres said he did not want to stir up the subject now, but added:
"The current situation is unbearable and it is absolutely clear to me that we must find a solution, and a quick one, and at this stage to uphold the law."
The building newly taken over by settlers is situated near a road linking Kiryat Arba to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Muslims and Jews in the biblical city.
Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, has been a frequent flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Settlers in Hebron say they have a biblical right to live in the ancient city. Palestinians see them as usurpers.
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