HOMESH (West Bank): Hundreds of Israeli police armed with batons on Wednesday cleared some 500 right-wing Jewish settlers from an abandoned West Bank settlement they had been occupying under army protection.

Helmeted police had to drag out some of the settlers, mostly youths and some with small children. The settlers this week had moved into the ruins of the Homesh homestead, cleared as part of Israel's so-called disengagement plan in 2005. “We will be back!” shouted some of the settlers, who passively resisted the police officers.

Some of the settlers joined hands, others lay on the ground, while others tried to argue with the officers who carried the radicals to waiting police buses. “Around 500 people were evacuated including women and children without anyone arrested,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

“Police continue to be on the site and are searching in and around Homesh to make sure the area is clear of the individuals who have been there for 48 hours,” he said.

The settlers marched on the hilltop settlement under army protection on Monday vowing to reoccupy Homesh and rebuild homes razed by Israeli troops a year and a half ago.—AFP