Jewish settlers clashed with Israeli police and Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday over the demolition of an illegal settler outpost.
Settlers resisted the demolition of the outpost's single home, fighting police and throwing stones at a nearby Palestinian home.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said four policemen were lightly injured and three settlers were arrested. A photographer for French news agency Agence France Presse was injured when he was hit in the head by a stone thrown by a settler.
Hebron is home to several hundred of the most extreme Jewish settlers. They often clash with the town's Palestinian residents, as well as with Israeli forces they see as overly sympathetic to the Palestinians.
In recent weeks, extremist settlers have attacked Palestinian farmers and their supporters elsewhere in the West Bank at the start of the important annual olive harvest.
France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, condemned the attacks.
"It is not acceptable that the olive harvest, (which is) essential for the economy of the Palestinian territories, and the other activities of the Palestinians be hindered by the flourishing of violent and illegal acts," France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It called on the Israeli government to "take the necessary measures to put an immediate end" to the violence