Israeli settlers angrily protest compensation

Angry settlers burned down an apartment house yesterday and began barricading this Mediterranean coastal settlement against Israeli troops in a bitter dispute over the compensation they are to receive when their land is returned to Egypt.

At the beginning of December, Yamit settlers barricaded the town and set fire to several municipal structures. A government official came to Yamit and convinced the settlers to resume negotiations.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli Cabinet warned the settlers that they would bear the consequences of any violence they provoked and called for continuing negotiations.