Israeli security forces swooped to evict Jewish settlers from a disputed apartment block in the biblical city of Hebron today, pushing through barbed wire and barricades to drag out dozens of settlers.

It was the first major West Bank evacuation since the forced eviction of the settler outpost of Amona in January 2006 in which some 300 people were injured. This time, however, security forces appeared to enjoy an element of surpise and managed to clear the building in minutes - although riots and running battles soon broke out in the streets around.

Unauthorised settlers moved into the building, dubbed "the House of Peace", last year, and have defied an Israeli Supreme Court order to vacate it. About 20 settler families live in the four-storey block but their numbers have been boosted at times by hundreds of others determined to prevent an eviction.

As hundreds of border police and riot police officers moved in this afternoon, however, it was clear that they had not been expecting the evacuation today. Teenagers played football in the dusty valley outside and, inside, there were only 100 to 120 settlers.

About 600 police officers and soldiers were involved in the operation, grabbing one limb each as they carried the settlers out of the building. The settlers tried to fight back but Major Avital Leibovitz, an army spokeswoman, ais that the evacuation of the house was completed in about 20 minutes.

“This is an act of scoundrels, Jews evicting Jews from their homes,” sakid Daniella Weiss, a settler leader.

Evicted settlers described how the security forces had moved in with stun grenades, cutting through the barbed wire around the building and ignoring a sticky substance painted over the stairs inside the building. On the roof of the block, acid bombs and rocks prepared for a confrontation went unused.

Violent confrontations continued as settlers tried to force their way back into the building despite Palestinian youths who live opposite throwing rocks to prevent them. Police fired tear gas and smoke grenades into the gully dividing the disputed block from Palestinian homes, and broke up riotous clashes between Palestinians and the settlers.

Rescue workers said that as many as 50 people received slight injuries in the clashes. Ten people, both settlers and police officers, were more seroiusly hurt including a settler taken away in an ambulance with serious headwounds.

Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, said that he ordered the Army to evict the settlers after all attempts to persuade them to leave peacefully failed.

Mr Barak had met with settler leaders earlier in the day and the sides failed to reach a compromise, but the settlers appared to have decided that Mr Barak would not yet order an assault because his Labour Party was holding electoral primaries today.

“This could have been done peacefully and legally. Instead Barak chose violence,” said Danny Dayan, leader of the Yesha settler council. “This surprised us completely. He threw a match in a pile of gunpowder.”

The lightning-quick raid drew immediate reaction from across the Israeli political spectrum. Arieh Eldad, an ultra-nationalist politician, accused Mr Barak of using the army for political purposes. But Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said: “In Israel, the rule of law prevails and not the rule of the vigilante.”

About 600 of Israel’s most extreme settlers have taken up residence in the centre of Hebron, living under military guard in the midst of 170,000 Palestinians. In recent months, as part of a deliberate policy known as "the price tag", they have stepped up attacks on Palestinian targets whenever it appeared that Israeli soldiers were going to move against them.

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