#2
Removal of
Jewish residents from Hebron
(String began August 8, 2007)
Please email your comments to sdheritage@cox.net
New York— Following yesterday's forcible eviction by some 3,000 Israeli military personnel of two Jewish families from their homes in Hebron who had been originally promised permits by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that were later denied to them by the Attorney-General, Menachem Mazuz, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein, Chairman of the Board Dr Michael Goldblatt, and Dr. Daniel Mandel, Director of the ZOA Center for Middle East Policy have issued the following statement:
"We are shocked and deeply concerned by the deployment of 3,000 Israeli armed personnel of the Jewish state of Israel to evict two Jewish families from their homes and destroy the holy place of worship, the Shalhevet Pass synagogue, named in commemoration of the ten-month-old baby murdered by a Palestinian Authority (PA) sniper in 2001. At a time when little or no action is being taken by the Olmert government against deadly Arab terrorists incessantly firing rockets into Israel (causing one half of the town of Sderot to flee for their lives) and smuggling offensive weaponry into Gaza, it is spending its finite resources and energy to evict Jews from their homes and denying permits that have been promised to them by the IDF Commander of Forces in Judea and Samaria, General Yair Golan. One must ask why the government seems intent on evicting these heroic Jewish families from their small dilapidated homes with maximum show of force. Some have suggested it is for political reasons in order to galvanize support from Israel's left-wing, Olmert's only remaining possible supporters.
"Worse, the Israeli government claims to be enforcing the law against residents promised permits by the IDF, a promise that was subsequently and arbitrarily breached by the government. These homes, incidentally, were built on the site of originally Jewish-owned property which was destroyed following the Hebron massacre in 1929, in which 67 Jews were murdered.
"In the meantime, against illegal Arab housing construction occurring all over Judea and Samaria and in other parts of Israel including Jerusalem, the Olmert government continues to do almost nothing and pretends the problem doesn't exist. Much of this illegal housing is funded by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and other Arab states in an effort to move towards de-Judaizing Israel and Jerusalem.
"Why is the Olmert government only making a major issue about a handful of Jews living in allegedly unauthorized housing while ignoring thousands of Arabs living illegally in houses built without permits and frequently without even applying for permits? Why is it destroying a synagogue? Previously it was only the terror-sponsoring Palestinian Authority that destroyed synagogues. Now, tragically, the Israel Defense Forces are ordered to do so. Throughout history, only Christians and Muslims, Cossacks and Nazis have destroyed Jewish synagogues. Even during and after the forced eviction of Jews from Gaza in 2005, the Palestinians destroyed the synagogues, not the Jews.
"This is part of a policy that is not only morally and strategically wrong, which encourages Arab terrorists to press on their campaign of terror and sends the message that enough terror will produce Jewish retreats; but has also been rejected by the Israeli public. A new poll shows that a clear majority of Israelis oppose any further withdrawals and handing over of territory to the PA, even if the PA signs a piece of paper supposedly ending the conflict.
"Remarkably, and even shockingly, a Haaretz poll shows that 33% of Israelis favored the non-participation of soldiers in this latest forcible eviction of Jewish families, while 54% of Likud voters favored IDF soldiers' non-participation. These figures surely signify that acts like these are splitting the nation at a time when unity is more than ever essential.
"This eviction also sends the message that Hebron and Judea and Samaria are somehow not really part of our historic and ancient homeland and that we Jews do not feel strongly that we have a legal, religious and historic right to be there. We must remember that we are called Jews, a contraction of the term ' Judea', the land from which we originate. Hebron was Israel's first capital under King David, and is one of the four holiest cities in Judaism. Evicting Jews from Hebron sends the message that Hebron is not really ours.
"It is time some questions were asked. If Mahmoud Abbas and the PA are genuine peace partners with whom a durable peace agreement is possible and who can establish a peaceful Palestinian state, why cannot Jews live within it just as over one million Arab Muslims live as citizens within Israel? Why must a Palestinian state be judenrein?
"If someone thinks that Jews living in Judea and Samaria are the problem, it is worth reminding them that 80% of the Israelis murdered by Palestinian terrorists in recent years lived, and were killed within, the pre-1967 borders, and that their own polls show that 60% of the Palestinian Arabs support continued terrorism, even if a Palestinian state is established in all of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Jerusalem. If one argues that Jews cannot live there even in the context of a Palestinian state because it would be simply too dangerous for them to do so, then one must concede the reality that such a state, alongside Israel's longest border would also be a threat to Israel itself. In these circumstances, the last thing Israel should be doing is creating such a state."
—Morton A. Klein, president, Zionist
Organization of America
Received 11:58 a.m., August 10, 2007
Editor, San Diego Jewish World
Sorry, I think you need
to reframe the issue. The way you framed it is irrelevant. The real and only
issue at hand is the right of the Israeli government (and the the Israeli
Defense Force or police) to act against those who break the law of the land.
This is true regardless where the law breakers happened to be -- Hebron,
Tel-Aviv or Haifa. A sovereign state cannot allow a fringe group to act against
the law of the land.
—Amnon Ben Yehuda, San Diego,
California
Received August 8, 2007, 6:18 p.m.
Editor, San Diego Jewish World
Regarding whether Hebron this is Jewish land, I think all Israeli land
should be turned over to the Palestinian Authority - but Israel should claim
Saudi Arabia as it's new homeland based on the incontrovertible fact that
Moses misread the map because he was holding it upside-down.
—Bruce Lowitt, Oldsmar, Florida
Received August 8, 2007, 11:37 a.m.
#2
Removal
of Jewish residents from Hebron (August 8, 2007)
(Editor's Note: Our second readers forum deals with the
emotionally charged issue of Jewish residency in the ancient
city of Hebron, traditional site of the Cave of the Patriarchs
where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are buried. Hebron from the
viewpoint of its Orthodox Jewish residents is part of Greater
Israel, the very land promised to the Jewish people by God.
On the other hand, it is located on the West Bank, within what
is now the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas.
To start the discussion off, we would like to know do you
believe the Israel Defense Force was justified in removing the
Jewish residents from their homes there?
Here is a link to an Associated Press
story about the incident that appeared in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.If you care to comment, send us an email at
sdheritage@cox.net
)
NEW
YORK (Press Release) — The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA),
in a letter signed by ZOA National President Morton A. Klein,
Chairman of the Board Dr. Michael Goldblatt, Chairman of
Executive Committee Dr. Alan Mazurek, and Treasurer Henry
Schwartz, has expressed its deep concern and opposition to the
forcible expulsion of two Jewish families from their homes in
Hebron's Shalhevet neighborhood on Tuesday, August 7.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) promised permits a year and half
ago to the eleven families who lived in the neighborhood, saying
they would be allowed to return with legal status on the
condition they left the premises peacefully. Nine of the
families cooperated with the government officials, believing
they would make good on their end of the deal. Attorney General
Menachem Mazuz quickly voided the promise after they moved out,
saying the army officials had no authority to make the
agreement.
On Tuesday, three thousand Border Guards and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel were deployed to remove the resisting Jewish families from their homes built on the site of the former Hebron marketplace, along with hundreds of their supporters. The Israeli forces used sledge hammers, chain saws and power cutters to break through the improvised defenses set up by the residents in anticipation of the evictions (International Herald Tribune, August 7).
Female activists
reported that the personnel deployed to evict the residents deliberately tore
the clothing off several women who resisted the forcible eviction. Thirteen
activists were arrested during the expulsion, accused of attacking police and
throwing stones. In addition, 15 police officers and 25 activists were hurt in
the melee, most with light wounds. Three police officers were taken to hospital
for treatment. Three young protestors were the last holdouts in a cement bunker
which was eventually breached by an IDF Search and Rescue unit. The former
marketplace on which the houses were built was in turn constructed on the ruins
of the city's old Jewish quarter, destroyed in the massacre of the Jewish
community by Arabs in 1929.
During its post-eviction operations, the IDF demolished a synagogue built in memory of Shalhevet Pass, the ten-month-old girl who was shot and murdered by a Palestinian Authority (PA) sniper several years ago. The synagogue has been a focal point of daily prayer, as well as home to a yeshiva whose students serve as a counter-terror first-response team in Hebron. In a statement to the press, Hebron Jewish community representatives said, "3,000 soldiers and policemen attempted to remove two families and dozens of youths from Jewish property, which they are now demolishing. This struggle will continue, and we will yet return. We displayed great responsibility - more than that displayed by the Defense Minister – and we demand the fulfillment of the agreement [allowing residents to stay in the Shalhevet neighborhood] and the return of Jews to the Jewish community of Hebron."
Activists at the scene charged that the destruction of the homes was an act of vengeance in retaliation against the determined struggle they waged against the expulsion of the two families who lived in the neighborhood. They also expressed bitterness that the army had secured a permit to destroy the buildings prior to the expulsion (Israel National News, August 7).
Referring to the old
marketplace adjacent to Hebron's Avraham Avinu neighborhood, where nine families
and a yeshiva were located prior to an agreement reached with the IDF in 2005,
Hebron spokesman David Wilder said, "We agreed to a negotiated deal a year and a
half ago. We kept our side,
they reneged – this will not happen again. The community was
given a firm promise, in the form of an agreement with the commander of
forces in Judea and Samaria, General Yair Golan, that following our voluntary
exit from the homes, families would soon be allowed to 'legally' return. That
was a year and a half ago. The agreement was voided by Attorney General Menachem
Mazuz, using the excuse that Golan was not authorized to make the agreement.
This, despite the fact that the General was on and off the phone with his bosses
in the Defense Ministry during the meeting with Hebron representatives in order
to receive their OK to the compromise."
Hebron officials said they were once again being promised that if they leave
willingly a quiet return to the marketplace will be arranged in the future. A
similar episode took place with the
Beit Shapira house – which
remains sealed and empty to this day. "We've been through that one too many
times," Wilder said. "The property is Jewish property. A military appeals court
recommended that the buildings be leased to the Hebron Jewish community. This
too was rejected. What more do they want?"
A letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, signed by seven Knesset faction heads,
Yoel Hasson (Kadima), Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism), Uri Ariel (National
Union-NRP), Gideon Saar (Likud), Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beitanu), Ya'akov Margi
(Shas) and Moshe Sharoni (Pensioners), said, "We are marking 78 years since the
1929 riots, you are faced with a fateful decision concerning one of the sites
which represents, more than anything else, the murder and the thievery of the
Hebron Jewish community of those days: the site of the 'shuk' in Hebron, where
presently several families are living …We are dealing with Jewish-owned land,
which was stolen as a result of the terrible slaughter. It is incumbent on the
government to act to return the stolen property as would be expected in
relationship to stolen Jewish property anywhere in the world. We the
undersigned, chairmen of various parties in the Knesset, turn to you with this
request to refrain from expelling these Jewish families living in the 'shuk' and
to study alternative ways to resolve Jewish quarters at this site, legally… The
residents of Hebron prevented violence and conflict similar to the occurrences
in 'Amona' when they voluntarily moved out of these homes, based upon promises
that they would be allowed to return, honoring and respecting promises of
representatives of the state, IDF officers. This type of approach is to be
encouraged and rewarded, not discouraged… For all the above reasons, we request
that you order that the issue of Jewish residency in the shuk be studied
seriously, and that in any case, you prevent, for the time being, any eviction
of Jewish residents from the site" (Israel
National News, August 7).
"While all this has been happening, there has been a wave of illegal Arab housing construction in Jerusalem, the Galilee and elsewhere in Israel. Why then is the government making a point of evicting Jews from their homes and rescinding permits that have been promised to them? What sort of priorities does the government have? These Jewish residents are patriotic Israelis and pioneers, not enemies of Israel or murderers of Israeli civilians. Yet the Olmert government is taking little or no action against real, deadly terrorists firing rockets incessantly into Israel from Gaza and smuggling offensive weaponry into Gaza. The IDF and Israeli intelligence services are dealing literally daily with dozens of terrorist threats and warnings of impending attack. In 2006 alone, the IDF and Israeli intelligence services prevented 260 terror attacks. Yet the Olmert government instead decides to turn Israeli military might against a few Jewish families in Hebron.
"Not only is this action wrong in itself, but evicting Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria sends a terrible message to the Palestinian terrorists – namely, that their continuing hostility, terrorism and aggressive designs are working. No-one believes that Israel would be finding ways to appease the PA like throwing out Jews from their homes if terrorism and violence were not continuing. Like the unilateral retreat from Gaza and northern Samaria in 2005, the Palestinian terror groups will surmise that their murderous strategy is working. The ZOA completely rejects this strategy and urges the Olmert government to cease this divisive, misconceived and unjustifiable policy that only encourages more terrorism and also sends the message that King David's first capital and one of four holiest cities in Judaism is not really ours."