Dozens of Jewish settlers went on the rampage against Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron today after a rumour spread that the military was about to demolish a disputed apartment block.

Soldiers used stun grenades to control the rioters, most of them teenagers, in clashes near the building known as the House of Peace - situated in the middle of the occupied Palestinian town - which settlers took over early last year without authorisation. The Israeli Supreme Court has ordered them to leave.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Palestinian residents said that settlers burned animal feed and slashed tyres in what appeared to be part of a broader tactic designed to deter Israeli authorities from dismantling unauthorised settlements, or attempting to rein settlers in.

Rumours began to circulate last night that the military was about to evict the settlers by force from the Hebron apartment block and hundreds of settlers flocked in to help resist any operation. No attempt was made to evacuate the building.

The military said that the rioters broke car windows and again defaced a Muslim cemetery in the area near the house. Settlers in several other locations in the West Bank also blocked roads and threw stones at Palestinian cars.

In recent months, some West Bank settlers have pioneered a policy they term the “price tag,” in which they attack Palestinians and Israeli security forces in response to any attempt to evacuate them.

Apparently in keeping with that tactic, several dozen settlers burned animal feed in the West Bank village of Kablan in the early hours of this morning and slashed the tires of dozens of cars, according to one resident.

In a neighboring village, Assawiyah, settlers who arrived at around the same time slashed tires and spray-painted: “Death to the Arabs" and “Muhammad is a pig" on the local mosque, a village official said.

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