Jerusalem & West Bank....Bracing....

Israel beefed up security throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank on Friday, bracing for new violence after the evacuation of a disputed West Bank building set off a rampage by Jewish settlers. Police said they had placed a larger-than-usual deployment of 500 officers in and around the West Bank city of Hebron, the center of Thursday's unrest, and taken up positions elsewhere in the West Bank.

Police and soldiers also were on heightened alert throughout the West Bank, defense officials said.

The moves followed Israel's eviction Thursday of dozens of extremist Jewish settlers from a Hebron house claimed by both Jews and Palestinians. The settlers had holed up in the four-story building in defiance of a Supreme Court order to get out while ownership is determined.

The eviction set off rampages by settler youths who attacked Israeli policemen and Palestinians and set fire to Palestinian homes and cars. Some 35 Israelis and 17 Palestinians were wounded, including five Palestinians who were shot.