Israeli security forces stormed a disputed building in Hebron yesterday to drag out more than 200 Jewish settlers who had barricaded themselves inside, prompting fierce clashes throughout the West Bank city.

Furious skirmishes enveloped the building in a cloud of dust as young settlers tried to return to the site while the police and army kept them away. The forces took more than an hour to empty the building - called the House or Peace by settlers but renamed the House of Contention by the wider public - as its occupants clung to doorposts and railings, screaming curses such as “Nazi” at riot police wielding clubs and shields.

Medical staff said that 20 people were injured, five of them seriously.

Settlers made retaliatory strikes against Palestinians and Israeli security forces.Local media said that the violence could lead to a “Jewish intifada” by extremist settlers seeking to maintain control of the West Bank.

The army declared the entire Hebron region a “closed military zone”, barring entry to non-residents.

Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, said that he had ordered the eviction after all attempts to persuade the settlers to leave peacefully had failed. Mr Barak had met settler leaders earlier in the day and the sides had failed to reach a compromise.

“This could have been done peacefully and legally. Instead, Barak chose violence,” Danny Dayan, leader of the main settler council, said.

“This surprised us completely. He threw a match in a pile of gunpowder.”

Over the past few days more than 500 settlers had gathered at the site on the basis of rumours that an eviction was imminent. The security forces were able to take the settlers by surprise, however, entering the building just after 2pm when many of the occupants were in the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba, on the other side of the valley.

Just before the forces moved in, young boys could be seen playing football outside the four-storey building while women cleaned up after lunch. Suddenly, the boom of a stun grenades sounded and riot police, border guards and soldiers stormed the building.

Settlers had threatened to “fight until the last man” and preparations for a battle were apparent in the rocks and bottles of acid that lined the rooftop. The stairs were covered in grease or oil and reels of barbed wire stood ready to be unrolled between the building's apartments.

Most of the defences went unused as security forces quickly secured the building and drove the settlers away. Unable to regain control, mobs of youths gathered at the valley south of the building, setting fire to Palestinian cars and olive groves.

Palestinians and settlers soon began running battles as soldiers fired stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear-gas.

“We will continue to fight them - we will move in small groups and evade them,” said one young settler who gave his name as Moshe. “The Palestinians are part of this, it is their fault and it is the fault of the traitorous soldiers who carried out orders against their brother Jews.”

Settlers moved into the building two years ago after saying that they had bought it legitimately from its Palestinian owner. The Palestinian denies the claim and Israeli authorities have not recognised the sale as legal. The country's Supreme Court ordered the house to be evacuated last month.

About 600 of Israel's most extreme settlers live in the midst of 170,000 Palestinians in the centre of Hebron. The city is the traditional burial site of Abraham, the shared patriarch of both Jews and Muslims.

The eviction yesterday was the first significant event of its kind since Israeli troops removed sections of the Amona outpost in February 2006.

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