JERUSALEM – In what analysts here are calling the start of larger withdrawals from the area, hundreds of Israeli troops have amassed in Hebron, the oldest Jewish city in the world, to evict three Jewish families who recently moved into a home at the center of a property dispute in Israeli court.
The families were given until Sunday night to vacate the premises or be forcibly evacuated from the home by the Israeli Defense Forces even though a court decision has not yet been reached in their case. Protesters have streamed to the area, sparking fears violent clashes may erupt with evacuation forces.
“This is part of the strategy of (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert,” charged Hebron spokesman David Wilder. “He needs a tiny, violent evacuation to show the Israeli public and the world he is capable of and willing to carry out his Judea and Samaria withdrawal plan.”
Wilder told WND there are “thousands of cases of illegal Arab construction all over Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, but here they are sending in soldiers, clearly looking for a confrontation, to remove three families from property purchased appropriately in the heart of one of the holiest Jewish communities in the world.”
The home recently was rented for three years on behalf of the Hebron Jewish community from an Arab businessman, but the lease is being disputed by former Arab occupants who maintain the businessman did not have the authority to rent the property and may have used forged documents.
Wilder said the transaction was conducted “very carefully.”
We had lawyers working on this for a while,” he said. “It was done 100 percent the right way. We wouldn’t ever move families in otherwise.”
The three families took up residence in the house last month. Although a court case involving the property is ongoing, the defense ministry ordered the families to vacate by Sunday night – nearly 30 days after their arrival – because property laws make it more difficult to evict a tenant after a 30-day period. If the court rules in the families’ favor, they will be permitted to return.
The court case this week veered from focusing on property law to the political situation in Hebron.
“The entire thing, the eviction, is baseless,” Wilder said. “It wouldn’t happen anywhere else. This is Olmert making us uncomfortable ahead of a larger evacuation and creating a media circus.”
The families said yesterday they would not leave.
Tzipora Schlissel, one of the home’s Jewish occupants, told the media her residence in the house is legal. She accused the police and the courts of abusing the law because, she said, it preferred to uphold the rights of Arabs over Jews.
Wilder said the community was still deciding whether the families would voluntarily vacate.
The IDF warned it will forcibly remove the families by the deadline with an operation utilizing over 1,000 soldiers.
Yesterday, dozens of protesters reportedly set up shop around the home. Messages were sent for Israelis to flock to Hebron to protest the eviction. The IDF set up road blocks around the city to stem the flow of protesters.
“This could turn into another Amona,” said Noam Arnon, a Hebron Jewish leader.
As WorldNetDaily reported in February, in a widely criticized decision, Olmert ordered more than 1,500 IDF soldiers and Israeli police officers to bulldoze 9 homes in the Samaria community of Amona after the court system ruled the houses were constructed without a permit.
The government said the homes could be rebuilt at a later date in the same community if the construction is coordinated with the Ministry of Defense. But Olmert ordered the demolitions be carried out immediately and instructed the military to use “all force necessary.”
During the bulldozings, horse-mounted police, water cannons and specially trained riot officers faced off against hundreds of protesters who massed in Amona in hopes of halting the efforts.
Israeli television broadcast live footage of demonstrators, including women and children, being dragged and beaten by soldiers. Teenagers with bloody noses and head wounds were seen being removed from the scene. Police were videotaped using batons and gas canisters to clear the area of demonstrators. Some protesters were seen throwing rocks and paint at security forces. More than 300 protesters were treated in makeshift first-aid tents. At least 70, including two Knesset members, were evacuated to Jerusalem hospitals with moderate-to-serious injuries.
More than 100,000 Israelis gathered in Jerusalem to protest against the violence. Critics charged Olmert’s decision to use force was highly political. A preliminary commission of inquiry found the IDF and police employed excessive use of force against the protesters.
Olmert recently announced his plan to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria, which is commonly referred to as the “Israeli Bible Belt.” This week his government, which consists of a small majority of the Israeli Knesset, officially was approved by the parliament plenum. Olmert has hinted several times Hebron will be evacuated as part of his withdrawal plan.
“Olmert made statements this week about isolated Jewish neighborhoods being impossible to keep,” said Wilder. “We realize we are under threat by his plan.”
Hebron is home to the oldest Jewish community in the world. Jews lived in the city continuously throughout the Byzantine, Arab, Mameluke and Ottoman periods and first established their capital in the city until it was moved seven years later to Jerusalem. In 1929, Hebron’s Jewish community was evacuated by the British as a result of an Arab pogrom in which 67 Jews were murdered. The Jews re-established their presence in Hebron after the West Bank was recaptured in the 1967 Six Day War.
The city is home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, believed to be home to the resting place of the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. The tomb is the second holiest site to Judaism.
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