A violent clash between hundreds of young West Bank settlers and Israeli police broke out Tuesday evening at the settlement Beit El, where settlers are trying to stop the army from demolishing two illegally-constructed buildings.

The violence began when the youths tried to stop a police vehicle from bringing in a security fence to be set up around the buildings. Police sought to drive off the settlers, who were being led at the time by Likud MK Oren Hazan, and a violent clash ensued. Two youths were arrested.

At the same time, the state has filed its response to the appeal filed by the buildings' contractor, who sought to cancel their demolition. The state agreed with the appeal, writing that there was a basic change in the planning situation which justified the reversal of the court's ruling which required the buildings' demolition.

Last year, the Supreme Court ordered the two buildings, containing about 24 apartments, demolished by the end of July, following a petition by the Palestinian landowners and the Yesh Din group. But the Civil Administration, acting on the defense minister's orders, has launched an accelerated process of promoting a building plan and giving a retroactive construction permit last month, after which the contractor would be able to appeal the Supreme Court to rescind the demolition orders.

Before the clashes erupted on Tuesday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett became the latest right-wing politician to make a solidarity visit to the site, where he blamed his rival, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, for the crisis.

Referring to the army's dispatch of troops to the area Monday night in preparation for the demolition, which are to take place by Thursday, Bennett, head of the Habayit Hayehudi party, said: "Last night a hasty, provocative, extreme act was taken by a senior member of the government, which flies in the face of responsible, statesmanlike behavior that I expect from this government. We will not lend a hand to this."

Clashes had broken out in the morning between police and the the 300 settlers the site; dozens were arrested and soon released. Meanwhile, some 200 settlers rallied at the ruins of the West Bank settlement Sa-Nur, which was destroyed 10 years ago, along with three other West Bank settlements and all 21 in the Gaza Strip, during the "disengagement."

At Beit El, Bennett continued, "I want to say state it clearly: Ten years after the disengagement [from Gaza and four West Bank settlements], to the day, and we are here so that things will look different, and they will look different this time. The answer to Palestinian terror is settlement, not cowardice."

Following their visits to the site, Ministers Uri Ariel, Ze'ev Elkin and Yariv Levin released a joint statement: "We came here to express our support for the residents of Beit El, their desire to build up their community, and their protest against the unnecessary demolition. We demand the start to construction on 300 housing units that was promised four years ago, and determined action to approve the Dreinoff buildings [the two slated for demolition]. We call on the defense minister to immediately cancel the 'closed miltary zone' order in Beit El and remove the special police forces from the community at once. At the same time we call on the settlers not to harm the security forces in any way.

"We also support the goal of the residents of Sa-Nur and northern Samaria to return to their communities, which lie in territory under complete Israeli control," the ministers' statement said. "Today, on the 10th anniversary of the expulsion, there is a broad consensus in Israeli society and the political system that the disengagement was a terrible mistake and that the time has come to correct it."