HEBRON, West Bank (AP) -- Israeli police on Tuesday forcibly removed Jewish squatters who were holed up in several apartments in the market area of the biblical city of Hebron.

Police units, backed by army troops, were confronted by hundreds of angry settlers, who spit at the troops and hurled stones, water, oil and cement. The evacuation began at 6:30 a.m., police said. A few of the settlers had holed themselves inside a concrete enclosure.
Hebron, a frequent flashpoint of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, is home to about 500 Jewish settlers living in heavily guarded enclaves among some 160,000 Palestinians. Clashes are frequent.
Two Jewish families have been squatting illegally in several apartments in the Hebron market for several months. The market has been closed since 1994, when the Jewish militant Baruch Goldstein opened fire in a shrine holy to both Jews and Muslims, killing 29 Palestinians. Settlers have been seeking to re-establish a presence.
The settlers claim the property was owned by Jewish families for decades until Jordanian authorities seized it after the 1948 Israeli war of independence. Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in 1967.
""This is a crime against justice and against Jewish history,"" said Noam Arnon, a spokesman for the Hebron settlers. ""I am sure we will return. Hebron has a long history and we will return.""
Danny Poleg, a police spokesman, said four soldiers, two police officers and two settlers were lightly injured during the evacuation. No arrests were made.
Police forces broke through the fortified apartment doors using bars and metal clippers, carrying the settlers out one by one.
The operation follows the highly publicized refusal of several Orthodox Israeli infantry soldiers to take part in the evacuation.
On Monday, the army made clear it would not tolerate any form of mutiny and sentenced a dozen of the soldiers, including two commanders, to brief terms in jail.
The rebellion reflects a growing schism between the army command and Jewish settlers, many of whom serve in combat units. Tensions have been high since Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, forcibly removing its 9,000 settlers. Last February, soldiers clashed with settlers again when they uprooted part of the illegal West Bank outpost of Amona