Israel's Olmert takes on West Bank outposts

Inside the PA, meanwhile, tensions have also been rising. A bomb was detonated outside the Gaza home of a senior security chief associated with Fatah - the once-mighty political faction defeated last week. Mr. Abbas has tried to restore calm and to set aside international concerns about a Hamas-led government by insisting that security forces will remain under his command, something Hamas disputes.

The Israeli political scene was already been tense after Sharon's sudden and unexpected exit from public life.

After coming under attack from his own right-wing Likud party for his decision to pull out of the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation, Sharon left to set up the Kadima, or Forward, party. Its platform, never put on paper, focused solely on allowing Sharon to push ahead with plans that were expected to combine unilateral moves with some level of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Olmert has promised to continue in Sharon's path - though many Israelis say they aren't sure what Sharon intended.

Olmert has suggested that he would remain committed to the road map, which includes steps to revive peace talks. In the road map, and in a meeting between Sharon and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Israel agreed to dismantle "illegal settlement outposts."

Palestinians and much of the international community consider all settlements on land taken in the 1967 Middle East War to be illegal. The Israeli government takes a different view, distinguishing between established settlements that were built as part of official policy, and smaller, newer settlements that have activists have set up of their own accord, in attempts to prevent the land from being turned over to Palestinian control.

Of the some 150settlements in the West Bank, 24 have been declared unauthorized and targeted for demolition. Successive Israeli governments have viewed these settlements as a threat to law and order.

Israeli leaders have said that they plan to keep, and eventually annex, any major West Bank settlement blocs in any final peace accord.

Amona, which sprang up about a decade ago, has long been on the list of settlements targeted for evacuation.

Officials say that the timing of the evacuation is unrelated to Israel's standoff with the Palestinians and the upcoming elections, and was following a legal - not political - calendar.

But no one at Amona, especially among the few thousand activists watching a wrecking crane, thought that rang true.

"They didn't even try to pick me up. They just started swinging and beating people on the head," says Aryeh Ulman, one of the young protesters. "I think this is all for Olmert to show off his muscles before elections."

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