Tense Quiet in Hevron

Hundreds of army forces and special policemen entered the Jewish Quarter of Hevron late this morning, taking over rooftops, as well as the Betar building. The situation is tense.

"They've come simply to provoke us, to scare us and to show their strength," said David Wilder, spokesman for the Hevron Jewish Community. "They have come with a tremendous show of force - soldiers, police, Yassam, Border Guard, and horses - and they're just standing and watching. I don't think there's been one arrest. They're simply waiting for someone to attack them."

"They went into the Betar building," Wilder said, "right in the middle of the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, and declared the people standing on the roof as an illegal assembly - even though I never heard of such a thing on private property... They're also blocking off the ancient Avraham Avinu synagogue and not letting people into that area."

Another spokesman, Noam Arnon, said, "We convened the youth this morning, and informed them that the stage [of violence] of the past two days has ended. The police, however, ignore this, and came here today to stage a provocation."

The army wishes to expel 11 Jewish families of Hevron from their homes on Jewish-owned land that once served as an Arab marketplace. Though many media reports say that the issue involves "Palestinian homes," the land was actually purchased by the Sephardic Jewish community of Hevron 200 years ago and transferred to the present-day Jewish community. Arabs worked there for a time, but did not live there.

In 1929, Arabs massacred 67 of their Jewish neighbors living in the Jewish Quarter. The survivors were hurriedly evacuated, and the Jewish houses and synagogues were abandoned and left uninhabited. In 1953, Jordanian troops assisted Hevron's Arab population in razing the remains of the Jewish Quarter, turning the beautiful Avraham Avinu Synagogue into a goat sty. On part of the land was built an outdoor food market, which continued to operate even after the Jews returned during the Six Day War in 1967.

Just over a decade ago, when Arab-initiated violence in Hevron was at one of its highs, the army decided to improve Jewish security in the area by clearing out the Arab store-owners in the marketplace. Several years later, after an Arab terrorist shot to death 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass with a bullet to her head, Jews decided to renew their title to the land. They began renovating the stores, turning them into inhabitable apartments, and moving families in. Eleven families currently live there.

Arabs then sued in Israel's Supreme Court against what they called the "infiltration" of the Jews to the stores, and the Court ruled in their favor - without agreeing with their basic premise. The Court did not deny that the land was Jewish-owned, but rather ordered the Jews thrown out in order that "sinners not go unpunished" for having entered the buildings without army permission.

Noam Arnon said at the time, "The Supreme Court decided that the land should be given to the Arabs, even though it is clearly Jewish land that was robbed from us... The Court simply ignored the fact that this is Jewish land."

Orit Strook (pictured above), a long-time Hevron resident who is considered the human rights activist leader of the nationalist camp, explained today, "The expulsion that the government wants to carry out is totally unnecessary and is merely a provocation. The whole thing could easily be arranged peacefully by giving a little time to arrange the rent legally."

Strook said that the "explosive mess we now face" was caused by the combination of "the use of tear gas by police, an IDF Brigade Commander whom I admire but who lost control of himself yesterday, idealistic and excitable teenagers, the terrible events of this past summer [in Gush Katif] that have left their imprint on all of us - and [Attorney General Menachem] Mazuz."

Strook blamed Mazuz, "who has a particular agenda, and who, with the encouragement of government elements, is rushing this impossible timetable, instead of allowing events to sort themselves out peacefully... Even the Prosecution is in favor of allowing us to rent the homes legally, as this is our property. The entire situation is a provocation that could be avoided."

Asked why the Jews don't simply agree to be evacuated, and return a day or two later, David Wilder said, "We have been made aware of the possibility that the army would actually destroy the buildings, rather than allow that to happen."

Hevron activist Baruch Marzel told Arutz-7, "We are just fighting for our land and our inheritance; it's ours and we don't plan to turn the other cheek." He accused the press of not telling the whole story: "For example, has anyone heard the case of the little 10-year-old tzaddik [righteous one] who, on his way out of evening prayers, was set upon by Yassam police who started beating him up; only when they saw how young he really was did they let him go..."

"There is an entire population sector that was hurt to its very soul by what happened this summer," Marzel said. "We see that we can only rely on G-d - no one in authority is preserving law or justice. The government's intention - whether headed by Ariel Sharon or Tommy Lapid's friend Ehud Olmert - is to destroy everything that is sacred in the Land of Israel, of which Hevron is a main part."

http://www.arutzsheva.net/news.php3?id=96896
Tense Quiet in Hevron, Now the Stories Come Out
17:41 Jan 18, '06 / 18 Tevet 5766
By Hillel Fendel

Police harassment of Jews in Hevron is not a new phenomenon. Long-time residents David Shirel and Shani Horowitz tell their harrowing stories of the past two days.

With police and army forces walking freely around buildings and onto private porches and roofs, the feeling in Hevron is that the unrest of the past few days is not yet over. "I just had a few moments of great tension," one resident told Arutz-7 at around 5 PM today, "when a rumor went around that it's about to happen - the police are coming to take us and throw us out. But then we heard that it wasn't true, so we have another short respite..."

By order of Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, the army and police are in fact set to throw 11 families out of their homes in Jewish-owned land in the ancient Jewish Quarter of Hevron. One of those families, the Shlissels, has turned to the Beit Shemesh Magistrates Court, demanding - and receiving - a temporary stay. The Shlissels maintains that a family that is about to be thrown out of its home deserves a legal hearing - and that, contrary to popular perception, this has not been done.

"The famous Supreme Court case that everyone is talking about," said Rabbi Yisrael Shlissel, "did not rule that we must be thrown out. Rather, Arabs turned to the Court against us, and the Court asked the State what its position was, and the State said it would throw us out. This was not a Court decision, but rather a State decision - specifically by Menachem Mazuz."

The State claims that the Beit Shemesh Court has no jurisdiction in the case. A ruling is expected today or tomorrow.

As the tense suspense continues, Arutz-7 heard two stories of police harassment in Hevron. David Shirel, a 25-year-veteran of Hevron, told Arutz-7 this story:

"My 14-year-old daughter is accused, apparently of actually throwing an egg, six months ago, that landed near an Arab. For this, the police have come no fewer than four times in the past two weeks with a warrant for her immediate arrest - and turned our house upside-down in the process. The last time was yesterday evening, though the other times they came at 6:00 in the morning. They come with around 30-40 policemen who stand around the building, and about 7-8 of them come inside, and basically cause hysteria. They push us around, cause the kids to scream - and basically begin to humiliate us. In the course of looking for our 14-year-old daughter, they look in the refrigerator, the vegetable bin, in drawers of underwear - and they even have to rip open plastic bags of summer clothes in our attic…. At one point, when I asked one of them to be careful, he said, 'I'll do exactly what I want.'"

Shirel lives with his wife and nine children in Beit HaShishah (House of the Six). The complex is named for six men who were murdered by Arab terrorists outside Beit Hadassah in a Sabbath-night attack in May of 1980. He said that this morning, after the army declared Hevron a "closed military zone," he and some of his neighbors decided to see how this was being played out:

"We drove over to Kiryat Arba [about a kilometer away], and then promptly made a U-turn to return to Hevron. The soldiers then stopped us and demanded our ID cards, which we refused to show. This is our land and our homes, and in addition to the fact that they didn't even produce any documents showing that a closed military zone had actually been declared, it is totally illegitimate to use this tool for political purposes. Military zones can be declared closed when there is a danger to security and the like, but by what rights is it being used to serve someone's political interests? ... We stood outside there in the pouring rain, honking and walking around; it definitely caused a disturbance, and finally, after about two hours, they just gave in and let us through."

It was later reported that five women from Hevron had been arrested by security forces for refusing to present ID cards.

In another case reported today, a 14-year-old boy was grabbed by policemen in Kiryat Arba last night and dragged roughly down a staircase into a police van. Helpless children burst into tears at the sight. Only after adults intervened was the boy freed. The police later released this response:
"Rocks were thrown at a Yassam force in Kiryat Arba by several youths who ran away. A boy was arrested near the site of the incident, and as soon as it became clear that he was not connected with the case, he was released. Every complaint about violence that was perpetrated illegally should be submitted to the Department for Investigation of Policemen."

Shani Horowitz, who has been living in Hevron for 24 years told IsraelNationalRadio.com the following story:
"Two days ago, I heard knocking at my door, and I saw about 50 special Yassam police forces standing outside. They were also standing at the other entrance to the house, to make sure that the 'criminal' - my 17-year-old son - wouldn't run away. He is accused of insulting a police officer. The officer claims that my son said he was garbage. So after it happened, my husband, a very peace-loving person, went over to the policeman and apologized... You know, the children here have had very bad experiences with policemen [see, for instance this July 2002 story and this one - ed.]... the policemen are not too well-loved here because of many different things we've gone through. I one time had a search done in my house because a Palestinian boy threw a cell phone at my child and then he claimed that my child stole the cell phone - so the police came and took apart all my bookcases and closets to look for this cell phone... Another time, a son of mine went to testify that an Arab boy had hit his [my son's] youth counselor, and then the Arab testified that my son had hit his own counselor - and the police actually opened an investigation on that! ... In short, my children don't have a great love for the police force...

"In any event, in the last case, my son wanted to apologize... but the police didn't accept that, and they want a court case. So they came to arrest him for that. The other day, when I was on my way to Kiryat Arba, about 20 policemen came and jumped on my car in a very frightening way, opening all the doors and scaring my baby very much. When I asked why, they said they were looking for my son again..."

Asked how she sees the situation developing, Shani said,
"It's hard for me to believe that they [the government] will back down, because they're trying to prove that just as good as Sharon, and if Sharon was able to do what he did [in Gush Katif] , then Olmert is no worse and Mofaz is no weaker; I think the name of the game at this point is to oppress the settlers in any way possible. But, on the other hand, I believe in G-d, and He can help us get out of anything..."

Shani lives with her husband and 10 children in the Beit Hadassah complex. Asked about her overall spirit at this time, Shani said,
"You want to know something? I come from America, and for me it's the biggest privilege that I'm here; I know this is a very critical time in the history of the Jewish country. With G-d's help, I believe that everything is going to bring to the total Redemption. All these things that now look to us very black - they will soon bring us great light."

Published: 16:46 January 18, 2006
Last Update: 17:41 January 18, 2006

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