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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli security forces and settlers clashed on Friday during the attempted evacuation of an illegal settlement outpost north of Ramallah, Israeli media reported.

Israeli security forces, including the army, police and border police, took part in the evacuation of Oz Zion outpost in an area near the illegal settlement of Bet El, north of al-Bireh.

Some 150 settlers confronted the security forces and threw stones at them, injuring five Israeli border police, Ynet news-site reported.

Settlers also punctured the tires of two border police vehicles. Two settlers were arrested during the clashes, Ynet said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an that "Israeli police and border police evacuated Israeli civilians that had attempted to reach a closed military zone. The civilians hurled rocks at security forces who responded with riot dispersal means."

Israeli security forces are expected to remain in the area over the weekend, Ynet added. The Oz Zion outpost has been evacuated several times in the past but settlers have returned to the area.

In September, 50 settler families were evicted from Migron outpost in the occupied West Bank after a court ruled that it had been built illegally on Palestinian land.

The United Nations deems all Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal. Israel disputes this and distinguishes between about 120 settlements it has sanctioned and about 100 outposts erected by settlers without authorization.

About 500,000 Israeli settlers live on occupied Palestinian land.

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5 policemen lightly wounded as IDF tries to evacuate West Bank outpost

200 youths prevent the evacuation of the Oz Tzion outpost situated between Jerusalem and Ramallah; IDF forces likely to return with reinforcements on Saturday evening.

By Chaim Levinson for Haaretz

Five Border Patrol policemen were lightly wounded on Friday at the outpost of Oz Tzion in the West Bank, as dozens of policemen and soldiers tried to evacuate it before the Sabbath.

Oz Tzion is a new outpost situated between Jerusalem and Ramallah, near the Givat Assaf outpost. Its founder is Daniela Weiss, the former head of the Kedumim Local Council, and it includes a few wooden structures.

The state has committed to evacuating the outpost twice in the past, yet has failed to do so.

Approximately 200 people came to the outpost to prevent its evacuation, supported by Kiryat Arba's rabbi Dov Lior and rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu of Safed. Both rabbis are associated with Naftali Bennet's Habayit Hayehudi party.

On Friday morning, West Bank commander Brig. Gen. Hagai Mordechai ordered the forceful evacuation of the outpost, yet the soldiers were outnumbered. Offers to negotiate with the settlers were turned down, and some youths hurled rocks at the policemen.

According to a report in Ynet, which Haaretz has not yet verified, settler representatives said the evacuation was prevented after government ministers intervened.

The IDF is likely to return to the scene on Saturday, after the Sabbath, with a larger force.