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| Week ending Shabbat, March 24, 2007 |
5 Nissan, 5767 |
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Two Hundred Jews Enter New Building in Hevron
Over two hundred Jews, mostly yeshiva students from the Hevron area, entered a four-story building in Hevron (Hebron), the City of the Patriarchs Monday night, and have named it "Shalom House." Minister of Knesset (MK) Chaim Oron (Meretz) says the government must throw them out. The house, which is only partially built and stood empty, was purchased by the Jews from its previous Arab owner two years ago. It is strategically located, in a spot overlooking "Worshippers Route" leading from Kiryat Arba to the Cave of Patriarchs. According to one report, the decision to enter the building now was reached after the Jews of Hevron received information that Arabs intended to enter the building in the near future. "Shalom House" (Beit Shalom) has a floor space of over 3,500 square meters (about 11,000 square feet). It was reportedly purchased by a Jewish American businessman through a Jordanian real estate agency for about $700,000. Officials are looking at the documentation to ascertain its validity, and at present no evacuation of the Jews is foreseen. The house's top floor had been used by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) for a lookout point. Twelve IDF troops and local Jewish residents were ambushed and killed by Arab terrorists on the Worshippers' Route in November 2002.
Upon entering the building in the evening hours, the new residents began singing and dancing. One of the youths told a reporter that he and others had reached the building by running through an Arab village. The Hevron Jewish Community's spokesperson, Noam Arnon, said the entry into the house was not meant for provocation but for peaceful residence by Jews. "We already have a long waiting list of potential residents," he added. "This is a house that has been under construction for several years. No one lives in it yet, so no one was evacuated from it," said Arnon. "Right now there are young people living there, but in the future, after we renovate it, families will live there, like in other areas of Jewish settlement in Hevron."
Hevron has long had a lengthy waiting list for families who wish to move into the Jewish neighborhood, and well over 40 small families can easily fit into the building. MKs Gideon Saar (Likud) and Otniel Shneller (Kadima) visited the youths and the new building this afternoon, and both expressed their support. Shneller said that forming a contiguous Jewish presence between Kiryat Arba and Hevron is in keeping with Kadima Party policy: "It is a very important contiguity; exceptional. The government should have done it itself... Kiryat Arba and Hevron are a Jewish bloc that will remain Jewish in any future settlement; this is how I understand Kadima's position."
The Yesha Council - the umbrella group for Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria - congratulated the house's new occupants. "The people of the Jewish Community are continuing in the path of the Patriarch Abraham, who paid full price for the Cave of Machpela," the council noted. The Yesha Rabbis Council praised the new residents for "meriting to restore Hevron homes to Jewish hands and fulfilling in a practical manner the commandment of settling the Land." MK Uri Ariel (NU/NRP) said, "Any act of strengthening the hold of Jewish roots in the City of Patriarchs is a blessing for the people and the land." He added that because the purchase was carried out legally, "this is a moment of trial for the government: shall it make the law subject to its political whims, or will it prove that the government too is subject to the law, and allow the Jews to remain in their house?"
MK Chaim Oron (Meretz) said today that the issue is not whether or not the property was legally bought, but the separation of populations. He called upon the government "to throw them out of there fast."
By Thursday
Although the IDF has supported civilian residents living on an army base in Hevron for the past sixteen years, they have not yet stated their position concern the "Peace House," (pictured right) even though the Peace Now organization has filed complaints about both. The property, with its open view of the surrounding area, has been used by the IDF as a lookout post. A Jewish presence in the area, Hevron residents note, would add to security along the pedestrian route. Peace Now argued that even if the purchase of Peace House was legal, Jews are not allowed to live anywhere in Judea and Samaria without permission from the Defense Ministry. Government officials have yet to make known their position on the purchase and residency. Similarly, a spokeswoman for B'Tzelem, self-described as a human rights organization, said, "Our opposition in principle is that these settlements should be evacuated anyway..." B'Tzelem feels that the legality of the purchase by Jewish owners is irrelevant and "the IDF has the obligation to make sure that settlers don't take over more areas." The head of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), Karl-Henrik Sjursen, said that the presence of Jews in another dwelling in Hevron may be seen by the Arabs as "an unnecessary provocation."
Tour the Biblical Heartland of Israel
The Tzemach Institute has joined forces with the Christian Friends Of Israeli Communities (CFOIC) in planning a special tour of the heartland of biblical Israel. Join us as we explore Israel from a genuine Biblical Zionists perspective. Meet the people who are continuing the Biblical narrative in the Land today. See for yourself how ancient prophesies are being fulfilled. Discover how you too can participate in the ongoing process of Biblical Redemption. Join us for an opportunity of a lifetime, to see the real Israel from the viewpoint of those who are living the Bible today. The experience will change your life. The tour has been coordinated with Sondra Baras of CFOIC and will be guided by Associate Pastor Jon Klein [pictured left].
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