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HEBRON, West Bank (JTA) -- It looked like a modern-day version of a medieval siege: Israeli paramilitary border police wielding batons and shields burst from vans, charging their way into a house in this tense, divided city.
The violent eviction Thursday ended one standoff between Jewish settlers and the Israeli government but spurred another.
After more than 200 settlers were hauled away from the cavernous four-story building by security forces using stun grenades and tear gas, dozens of settler youths fanned out across Hebron attacking Palestinians and setting olive groves ablaze. One settler shot two Palestinians outside their family home. The footage was broadcast by Israeli TV stations.
Earlier in the day, David Wilder, a spokesman for Hebron’s Jewish community -- an island of several hundred Jews living in fortress-like compounds in the midst of more than 150,000 Palestinians -- warned that the house’s evacuation would not pass silently. He spoke as Israeli police nearby scuffled with a group of teenage girls during the final throes of the evacuation of the disputed house.
"The people here were brutal," Wilder said of Israel’s police. "And I think there will be a price to pay for it."
The notion of exacting a price for evacuation of settlers in the West Bank is the cornerstone of a new policy by some radical Jewish settlers to spread mayhem in response to any eviction attempt by the Israeli authorities. Dubbed “price tag,” the policy aims to spread thin and exhaust Israeli security forces.
At stake is nothing less than the future of the West Bank, Israel and the Palestinian state, settlers say, with some determined to oppose any Jewish withdrawal from the holy land -- by force, if necessary.
"We are ready for battle and we are getting ready for battle,” said Baruch Marzel, the leader of a settlers’ resistance committee overseeing events at the disputed house, shortly before Thursday’s evacuation. “This battle is very important to us because it's about the whole of the Land of Israel.”
Inside the house, called Peace House by the settlers, police uncovered a stockpile of blocks, bricks, potatoes spiked with long nails, and containers of acid and turpentine. Caught by surprise, the evacuees didn't have time to use much of their arsenal.
Settlers say the house belongs to a Jewish buyer who purchased it for $1 million, and claim to have the documentation to prove it. But the Palestinian who sold the house to its Jewish owner -- Morris Abraham, a New York businessman -- says he reneged on the deal once he learned the buyer was Jewish. Israeli police say the settlers' sales contract is forged.
Israel's High Court of Justice ruled that the settlers should leave the house until the question of forgery can be sorted out, and this week Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered an immediate eviction.
The home's tenants, along with the hundreds of youth who had come to support them, said they were surprised by the speed of Thursday’s evacuation and that it came without warning.
"We were in shock," said Aderet Shuavel, 24, her year-old son sleeping on her in a sling. "We had been sitting together eating lunch, and suddenly they jumped out of vans and burst into the house."
In her hand, Shuavel held an onion to help ward off the sting of the tear gas-filled air. Just a few steps away from her, in the shadow of the house, scuffles between police and settlers continued. Ponytailed girls in long skirts clung to boulders on the side of a dusty hill, refusing to be escorted away.
Unperturbed by the chaos surrounding her, she sounded a defiant note: "We will return. We will not be broken."
At the house, the police dragged out the settlers through the home's large, red metal doors, many of the settlers thrashing and shouting. Above them was a huge poster with the word "criminals" displayed above the faces of Barak and Supreme Court Justice Dorit Beinisch.
Barak defended his actions Thursday evening, commending the security forces for their work.
"A defense minister in Israel has no choice but to ensure that the law is upheld; without that we won't have a state," he said. "We are only a hair's breadth from utter anarchy."
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The High Court DID NOT rule that an immediate evacuation must take place. It ruled that it COULD take place. There is a big difference. Once more the courts have worked with the government to give a legal cloak to political decisions. The evacuation could have waited for the lower court to decide if the ownership belongs to the Jews who purchased the house. One must remember that it is a capital offense under PA law to sell property to a Jew and this is why the Arab insists that no sale took place.
JTA Editors need to look at the blurb that leads to this article. It mistakenly seems to say that 30 Jewish oranizations are planning an attack rather than preparing for such an attack.
Enough is enough already!! If the Hebron Jewish Community and/or one of its citizens do own the apt. compex and have the deeds to prove it, then the Supreme Court and the army clearly moved to quickly. It appears that certain Jewish community in Israel have limited rights, and certainly the law of the land is not respecting this pious community. The army should have waited until the lower court ruled on who owned the house. I guess it is okay that the Arab community could live with no fear among the Jewish community, but the Jews cannot live safely among the Arab community. I guess terrorism and bad behavior is very effective. Having no consequences to bad behavior is a horrible way to run a country. We certain don’t raise our children that way, do we?? Israel, if you continue with this policy, you will win battles but lose the war.
It is a mistake to believe you can buy peace with appeasment. History has shown this kind of erroneous thinking to be deadly to peace over and over again. All I can say is that I hope that America did not pressure this stupid eviction.
Jehovah G_d has already decided the West Bank ownership.
Obviously some Jews don’t believe this or they would be up in arms against this corrupt Government.
The High Court ruled that a legally elected government could act to resolve a dispute before the dispute itself was adjudicated. Coming from a court that acts on the basis that everything is adjudicable, that ruling was hypocritical, illogical, indeed risible. Israel will not be a full democracy until both the judiciary and the legislature are reformed.
This is the oldest conquest scam job. First send in the settlers to take the land. Then send in the troops to support them. The timing was bad. That’s all. The real stunt will be tried again in a few years.
The settlers and their supporters would destroy the Jewish state if they could. They have no right to defy the Israeli government’s demand that they leave a building that they illegally occupied in the midst of Hebron. The settlers goad Arab residents of Hebron into nasty confrontations that the sensible & responsible leadership of Israel does not want. I’m on the side of Israeli law and order. The settlers have become terrorists and they should be treated like the criminals they are.
I am in agreement with Mr Todd Appelbaum entirely. I am surprised that the settlers can be forcefully ejected from that house when the issue of the ownership of the house has not been determined. The documents alleged to be forged have not been entirely proven to be so. The issue of ownership of the house is still to be determined and a nation hastily threw its people out! So what happens if indeed the house is found to rightly belong to the Jewish businessman? You call back the ejectees? Where are those ejectees living now? Are they happy in the new place? Israel appears to me to be too frenetic to give away every thing for peace; is this ‘peace’ worth it? Where do you place a stop sacrifices for peace? I hope Israel will not have peace with Neighbours but strife with itself.
As with many online articles on controversial issues, the comments above play almost as important a role as the article itself in highlighting the issues.
Here’s what I believe the eviction of these settlers from the building in Hebron is NOT about:
- Firstly, it’s not about the ownership or occupation of this particular building.
- It’s not about land for peace, appeasement, or even peace itself.
- It’s not about any God-given right to the Land of Israel, or any God-forsaken corner thereof.
- Finally, it’s not about any decisions taken by the High Court, activist or not.
This is a struggle over some very fundamental issues for Israel and Zionism, a struggle over:
- What kind of state will we have? A vibrant, modern, democratic state, as far as possible integrated into the region and the wider family of nations, or the blighted, ugly garrison state whose violence we see depicted on our TV screens each day?
- Who determines the defence, domestic and foreign policies of Israel? Its citizens and duly elected government (however lame duck), or the radicals within the Settler movement?
- Whether the State of Israel will have the monopoly over force within its territory (including occupied territories), or whether the parasitic Kingdom of Judea will be allowed to erode this further.
Fortunately, there appears to be a recognition on the part of government ministers and others that this is not just about some dump in Hebron. This is a challenge as severe as that faced by Ben Gurion with the Altalena affair, and needs to be met head on and with the same resolve.
Once this crisis is over (and perhaps once a new government has been formed), Israel needs a clear official policy and legislation governing settlement in Judea, Samaria and anywhere else that formed part of historic Eretz Israel and/or Mandatory Palestine. If such a policy is in conflict with international law, “world public opinion” or justice and morality, the Israeli public needs to be given the opportunity (by means of a referendum) to approve or reject it and its consequences.
Bring on the rule of law!
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