<div><p>Security forces braced on Friday for more violence after Israeli hardliners went on the rampage against Palestinians in retaliation for the eviction of settlers from a disputed house in the West Bank city of Hebron.</p><p>The entire southern West Bank was declared a closed military zone to prevent Israelis from converging again on the flashpoint city where a mob of Jewish extremists on Thursday shot and wounded three Palestinians, hurled rocks at others and torched homes, fields and cars.</p><p>Authorities feared the violence would continue as right-wingers vowed to exact revenge for Thursday's forceful eviction of some 250 settlers from the house that had come to symbolise hardliners' determination to fight for what they consider their God-given right to all the biblical land of Israel -- including Palestinian territories.</p><p>"Already now there is great fear of a Jewish terrorist attack directed against Muslims," the Maariv newspaper warned.</p><p> Authorities were also worried about a Palestinian backlash amid simmering anger over the perceived failure of Israel's security forces to protect them from the rampaging mob in Hebron.</p><p> Security was beefed up around Jerusalem's mosque compound ahead of Friday prayers and access was restricted to Muslims holding Israeli identity cards and aged over 45 in the case of men, with no age restrictions for women.</p><p>Most Israeli media hailed security forces for finally removing the settlers from the Hebron house on Thursday following an Israeli high court order on November 16.</p><p>Police used stun grenades and tear gas to evict the settlers, dragging out several who refused to move, in an operation lasting less than an hour.</p><p>But authorities also came under harsh criticism for failing to protect Palestinians who live around what has been dubbed "the House of Contention."</p><p>"If the serious aggressions carried out by settlers continue, it will sabotage the peace process," said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.</p><p>A videotape distributed by Israel's B'Tselem human rights group shows a settler shooting two Palestinians and a guard from the nearby Kiryat Arba settlement firing into the air as relatives of the victims overpowered the gunman.</p><p> B'Tselem said it delivered the video to Hebron police, demanding that the assailant be immediately brought to justice and that the involvement of the security guard be investigated.</p><p>"Additionally, the security forces must investigate the failures that allowed settlers to riot throughout the afternoon and evening in Hebron's Palestinian neighbourhoods. This, although it was known in advance that settlers will attack Palestinians in reaction to the eviction," the group said.</p><p>The conservative English-language Jerusalem Post printed a picture of soldiers aiming their guns at Palestinians trying to reach their homes near the disputed building, and another showing relaxed-looking soldiers chatting with masked youths, apparently settlers, some of whom are holding rocks.</p><p>The presence of a few hundred Jewish settlers in Hebron's centre, and a further 6,500 in nearby Kiryat Arba, has been a source of tension in the Palestinian city of 170,000 long before 100 or so Israelis moved into the disputed house in March last year.</p><p> In 1994, a Jewish extremist massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Jews and Muslims alike.</p><p>The international community considers Jewish settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, and the Palestinians say they are the biggest obstacle to Middle East peace talks.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=38173560&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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