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Some 30 settlers from Hebron and Kiryat Arba took over a two-story house in the casbah of Hebron Sunday and 20 were arrested as they were persuaded to leave peacefully about two hours later.

The settlers said they had acted in response to an attack in which two pipe bombs were thrown into a playground next to a nursery school and a kindergarten in the Avraham Avinu Quarter on Friday. Nobody was hurt, since everyone was inside at the time.

Hebron Jewish community spokesman Noam Arnon complained that Friday's attack showed how their security has worsened.

"A year has almost gone by since the signing of the Hebron Accord. First stones and rocks were thrown at us, then firebombs; after that came live gunfire and recently explosive devices," he said.

"It is the IDF's responsibility to protect us."

At about 6 a.m., the settlers, including women and children — with at least one infant among them — entered the house, in a small section of the casbah, which is still under Israeli security control. They defied a closed military zone order imposed by the Israel Defense Force several months ago.

The settlers claimed that the house was purchased by their community in 1983 and that after it was bought, some MKs had moved in with some settlers and were later evicted. They noted that in 1986, a soldier, Avraham Sorek, was killed while on guard duty nearby.

Palestinians denied that Jews owned the building.

Hamed al-Zarou, a 37-year-old laborer, said, "Their claims that they had bought the house are false. There are houses that belong to the Jews who lived in Hebron before 1929 and they still belong to them since they are closed and intact, but this house belongs to an Arab."

Settlers who were arrested as they left the building were questioned at a police station in Kiryat Arba and freed several hours later, said Opher Sivan, a police spokesman for the territories.

Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan, of the IDF central command, promised to provide more security in Hebron. Accompanied by the West Bank commander, Brig.-Gen. Itzhak Eitan, Dayan declared that houses surrounding Avraham Avinu would be shut, and that plans to reopen part of Shuhada Street to Palestinians, would be put on hold.

Dayan added that more soldiers would be posted around the Jewish Quarter and that extra gates would be put up to enable the IDF to seal off the area in case of violent outbreaks.

The IDF commander for Hebron, Col. Yigal Sharon, acknowledged an increase in stoning, bombing and shooting attacks at IDF troops in Hebron.

"We view the recent chain of events on the Israeli and the Palestinian side seriously," he said, adding that both sides have been warned that harsh steps would be taken if calm was not restored to the city.