Hevron Issues Call to Public: Come to Fight Injustice!

Hevron Issues Call to Public: Come to Fight Injustice! 23:04 May 06, '06 / 8 Iyar 5766 by Ezra HaLevi

The Hevron Jewish community is calling upon the public to come to the city to protest the government's intention to forcibly remove residents from a building prior to a court hearing on the matter.

Hevron's Beit Shapira has been isolated by the police and the forced eviction of its Jewish residents will probably begin Sunday morning, community members say. They are calling upon loyalist of the Land of Israel and Jewish property rights to make their way to Hevron.

Mid-day Friday, IDF forces erected checkpoints along the roads leading to the building. Despite the efforts of the security forces, Hevron residents say "masses" of people had already made their way into the building, joining the three families (22 people in all) already living in the semi-renovated building. Security forces reportedly refused to allow food for the Sabbath to be brought in.

The community has issued a call upon all those faithful to the Land of Israel to make their way to Hevron to protest the injustice being perpetrated against them. The call is being circulated far and wide via SMS text messages. They say checkpoints will certainly be set up all along the way, but should be bypassed in order to struggle against the impending expulsion.

Despite thorough documentation of the sale, the police claimed that the documents were forged. Israel's Supreme Court declined to review the evidence, referring the case to the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court to examine instead. The court did, however, order the residents to leave the building until a verdict is reached – something that could take months.

Hevron community leaders decided at a late-night meeting Thursday night to reject the court order to voluntarily leave the building, saying, "This building was purchased for a tremendous amount of money and the sale is 100 percent legal. The Supreme Court ruling was not based on legal issues, but rather on political considerations, which were raised by the state prosecutor during [Thursday]'s hearing. We have no intention to leave the building voluntarily."

Shortly after the meeting, a call was issued to Israeli youth to come to Hevron for a special Sabbath, and to remain in the city on Sunday to participate in the struggle for the building.

Police began blocking roads on the outskirts of Hebron Friday, stopping busses and refusing to allow them to continue to Hebron. Many people report, though, that with persistence and patience they were able to reach the city.

Many of Hevron's residents are still furious with the decision to comply with a deal offered by the IDF to leave the Hevron marketplace willingly in February. The deal was reluctantly complied with, relying on a promise that Jews would be permitted to return to the undisputedly Jewish-owned property at a later date. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz recently declared, however, that the government is not bound by the deal.

Two of the three families that now live in Beit Shapira had been among those who left the Hevron marketplace, called the Shalhevet neighborhood after 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass who was murdered by an Arab sniper while in her stroller nearby.

Residents reported that police and Yassam riot-squad members converged upon Hevron over the course of the Sabbath. They say the police seem to be preparing for even more intense clashes than the brutal Amona demolitions in February. Police present were spotted without their identification tags, a move that was repeatedly condemned by the Knesset Commission of Inquiry following the events at Amona. The Hevron leadership, via Knesset Members from National Union and Shas, lodged a demand with the Police Commissioner to order his officers to display their name tags in accordance with the law.

Shas MK David Azoulai spoke with the Police Commissioner and Regional Commander of Judea and Samaria, objection to the fact that troops were being forced to violate the Sabbath in preparation for the expulsion despite the fact that the court had given them until Monday, specifically to prevent such needless violations. Both men promised Azoulai that the Sabbath desecration would be avoided and the officers' tags would be displayed.

The officers in the field soon received an order to display their tags, but during the course of the Sabbath they were seen having removed them once again. Susequent complaints have not been answered.

One of the young men who has made his way into Beit Shapira despite the siege placed on the building spoke with Arutz-7, saying: "This is not going to be Gush Katif. We will remove the humiliation resulted from the marketplace deal and the people of Hevron, together with those of the Kommemiyut movement and all those faithful to the Land of Israel will come out this time to struggle."

Kommemiyut is a youth organization founded after the Gaza expulsion by rabbis including Rabbi Zalman Melamed of Beit El and Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba. It was created to offer youth an ideological leadership that would not buckle under pressure from the government in its struggle for the future of the nation and land of Israel.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=103165
Forced Evacuation of Hevron Building Has Ended
11:14 May 07, '06 / 9 Iyar 5766
by Hillel Fendel

At 6:40 AM the police forces - 1,000 strong - began breaking down the door to Beit Shapira, and at 10:15, the operation was declared over. The three families insist they rented the building legally.

The three families, including many young children, left relatively early in the mission. The commander of the mission, Judea and Samaria Commander Yisrael Yitzchak, said after one family had left on its own, "we are taking our time with the two other families - allowing them to take another object, or something that they need... We will then begin with the youths who came to the building."

Several dozen youths remained in the building after the families, and the police then took about an hour to remove them. "Fears that it would turn into another Amona did not actualize," one observer said.

The police claimed that 17 policemen were injured by rocks and other thrown objects. They further claim that two Molotov cocktails were hurled from the building at the police, but that they did not catch fire. It was later reported that the exact contents of the bottles would be checked to see if they were in fact firebombs.

Some ten protestors were arrested during the course of the events, mostly girls.

Rabbi Yisrael Shlissel, a resident of the building with his family of ten, painted a different picture. Speaking from within the building this morning, he said, "We heard the police on the roof threatening to break our heads. And their claims that 13 policemen have been injured are simply lies. I can see from my window what is going on outside..."

Hevron spokesman David Wilder said that the police arrested a young girl, "but somehow they strangled her in the process, and an ambulance was brought to the site to evacuate her."

Rabbi Shlissel had to stand against not only the police and courts, but the media as well. Speaking with Voice of Israel Radio this morning, he was in the midst of detailing the police violence when anchorman Aryeh Golan terminated the conversation by interrupting sarcastically, "OK, yes, thank you very much, let's now go to the news bulletin."

Ariel Melamed, one of those who were forcibly thrown out today, said, "I believe the entire Israeli public should be worried, because every Jewish purchase of property is now in danger of being nullified based on some imaginary claim or other."

The families moved into the building a month ago, after the Jewish Community of Hevron purchased it from its Arab owners. They also rented the building, for good measure, in the event that the purchase would be challenged - as in fact occurred. No fewer than eight Arab families claim ownership over the two-story building, claiming that the purchase papers were invalid.

The Jews said in response that this claim was to be foreseen, as Arabs who sell to Jews are in danger of their lives and therefore often deny the sales.

The police, however, hurried last week to begin evicting the Jews from the property. The Jewish residents turned to the Supreme Court, asking that the matter be determined in court and not by the police. The Court, however, ruled that the eviction could proceed. The Jewish owners say they will bring the matter to lower courts, but Hevron spokesman David Wilder estimated that it could take a year or more to be resolved.

On Friday, after it became clear that the eviction would not take place before the Sabbath, the black-uniformed police forces began making it difficult for the occupants. They originally refused to allow food for the Sabbath to be brought in, and did not wear name tags. However, after many phone calls to governmental, police and political echelons, including Shas MKs, both these problems were alleviated. During the course of the Sabbath, however, the police were seen once again without name tags.

MK Matan Vilnai (Labor) expressed the hope that today's eviction would be merely the first step in "the attempt to return law and order in Judea and Samaria."

Women in Green leader Nadia Matar said, "The fact that so many forces are needed to remove three families shows that Olmert won't be able to carry out his evil plan to destroy all of Judea and Samaria. We will bring people to every single house and shack the government tries to destroy."

The Shlissel family moved into the building after having been forced out of another house in Hevron a few months ago. Immediately after being thrown out today, Mrs. Tzippy Shlissel was quoted on Ynet as saying, "The State is controlled by a corrupt gang. It doesn't care about security or about nationalism... This army is a foreign army, just like we felt under the Turks and the British. But Am Yisrael Chai - the People of Israel lives!"

Her husband Rabbi Shlissel said earlier that his lack of confidence in the Supreme Court stems from the fact that "though we bought the property totally legally, the Court can be expected to rule against anything that has the aroma of Judaism or Zionism."

Published: 08:22 May 07, 2006
Last Update: 11:14 May 07, 2006

http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/8401.htm
Jewish families evicted by security forces from disputed Hebron home
By Israel Insider staff and partners May 7, 2006

Israeli police, using a buzz saw to remove a barricaded metal door, stormed a home in the volatile city of Hebron on Sunday, forcibly expelling three families and dozens of Jewish supporters holed up inside.

Jewish settlers outside the building tried to force their way inside immediately after police broke down the door. Police, dressed in riot gear, dragged the struggling protesters away, but scuffles between the two sides continued outside the house.

Earlier in the day, officers and settlers clashed after hundreds of police, backed by soldiers, massed for the evacuation.

The operation will be an important test for the new government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who plans a broad pullout from Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") during his four-year term.

Olmert, whose Cabinet is to convene for the first time later Sunday, was widely criticized for his handling of the evacuation of the tiny outpost of Amona in February while he headed a caretaker government. More than 200 police and teenage protesters were injured, and critics accused police of using excessive force.

Hebron, a city holy to Jews and Muslims, is home to about 160,000 Palestinians and some 500 Jews who live in heavily fortified enclaves.

Three settler families moved into an abandoned home near the settler enclave of Avraham Avinu about a month ago, presenting documents allegedly showing they had rented the property from its Palestinian owner. Israeli authorities later determined the documents were forged, Avi Harush, one of the police commanders of the evacuation, said.

The Supreme Court had initially ordered the squatters removed by Friday, but then postponed the eviction because of the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday.

Dozens of young supporters had also gathered at the house by Sunday morning to reinforce the settler families' resistance.

About ten police were assigned to carry out each protester. Before they could begin removing the squatters, settlers outside tried to enter, and police dragged them away, sometimes slapping the protesters to calm their thrashing.

Inside the building, officers tried to appeal to the Jewish families -- some with toddlers and babies -- to leave the building peacefully. Some left of their own accord, but one woman was dragged out as a policewoman carried out her baby.

Harush said the operation would proceed slowly because the building was very dark, and the stairwell very narrow.

"There are children inside, even babies," he told Israel Radio. "We don't want one hair on their head to be hurt."

Fighting erupted before daybreak when officers cleared a crowd of protesters gathered outside the home. Settlers inside threw stones and bottles at security forces, wounding 13 police, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld and rescue services didn't have immediate details on how many Jews were hurt.

Eli Zamir, head of the Israeli police department in Hebron, said two firebombs were thrown at security forces in the early clashes. "This is the crossing of a red line," Zamir fumed.

Reinforcements were called in after the clashes broke out, police said.

About 700 police, reinforced by 1,000 soldiers, were mobilized to evict the squatters and their sympathizers, whose number Rosenfeld estimated at 30 to 60.

Olmert plans to withdraw from much of the West Bank in an effort to draw Israel's final borders by 2010. He says uprooting tens of thousands of settlers from their homes is necessary to improve Israel's security and guarantee its future as a democracy with a Jewish majority.

Jewish residents bitterly oppose the plan. Many are observant Jews who say God promised the land to the Jewish people.

Rabbi Israel Schlussel told Israel Radio that he and the other settlers inside the home wouldn't leave voluntarily.

"It is our house, bought with our money, and the court wronged us," he said. "Justice was not done."

Settlers also resisted last summer's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, though no serious violence took place.

In Gaza, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the militant Hamas group failed to resolve their deepening differences during a late-night meeting Saturday but agreed to talk again on Sunday.

The two men met for four hours to try to end disputes over their division of powers, and policy toward Israel. Hamas' refusal to disarm and recognize Israel has led to Western and Israeli economic sanctions that have financially crippled the Palestinian government.

Abbas favors holding peace talks with Israel.

The financial crunch has left the Hamas-led government unable to pay the salaries of 165,000 government workers for the past two months. The Palestinian Authority is the largest employer in the West Bank and Gaza, so its failure to pay salaries hits the Palestinian territories hard.

On Saturday, hundreds of Palestinians staged strikes and demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza to demand payment of the overdue salaries, in the first public signs of discontent with the government's handling of the international financial squeeze.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3247788,00.html
Forces clear Hebron home

Police, soldiers storm Hebron home at 6:40 a.m., break through iron door an hour later; three families who illegally occupied house leave voluntarily, dozens of youth settlers removed by force. 17 police officers, seven settlers hurt
Efrat Weiss

(VIDEO) HEBRON – Olmert government's first evacuation operation: Security forces completed the evacuation of families and barricaded settler youths from the illegally occupied Shapira home in Hebron around 10 a.m. Sunday.

Troops were deployed across the West Bank town following the evacuation in order to prevent settlers from disrupting the peace. The IDF prepared to seal off the evacuated structure in order to prevent settlers from returning to the site.

The troops moved in around 6:40 a.m. and attempted to enter the home through the front door. For about an hour, forces were sawing off the iron door at the entrance to the compound and were finally able to break through it at 7:40 a.m.

Forces storm house (Footage: Reuters)

Police officers proceeded to remove equipment placed by settlers on the ground floor in order to allow troops to move in. After breaking through the first door, the forces encountered another door and were working to get through it as well.

Meanwhile, one of the families staying inside the house decided to leave voluntarily. Minutes later, a second family also left on its own, aside from the mother, Tzipi Shlisel, who was forcefully removed by police officers.

The third family also left on its own shortly thereafter, but dozens of youths remained in the house and barricaded themselves in separate rooms for boys and girls.

Wounded Border Guard officer (Photo: Dudi Vaknin)

After being removed, Shlishel took her baby away from her husband and sat down on the ground, yelling out "the country is ruled by a corrupt gang. It doesn't care…it's only concerned about money."

"This army is a foreign army, just the way we felt during the days of the Turks and Brits, but the people of Israel lives forever," she said.

Overall, 17 police officers and seven settlers sustained light wounds in clashes before and during the evacuation. Seven officers were taken for treatment at Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.

Settlers inside the house threw paint bottles at the forces and hurled insults at them. One settler yelled out: "Is this why you enlisted, to expel Jews? You should be ashamed. The gentiles are expelling Jews." Another teenager yelled at the troops: "Nazis."

Meanwhile, forces clashed with female settlers outside the compound after the latter refused to leave the scene. Far-right activist Baruch Marzel, who also refused to evacuate, was taken in for questioning by police

Evacuation completed (Photo: Dudi Vaknin)

About 1,000 police officers and soldiers wearing helmets and wielding clubs encircled the Shapira house Sunday morning ahead of the evacuation.

Earlier, the troops deployed around the house, took control of its roof, and also occupied roofs around the home. The forces deployed in three rings, with the first two made up of police and Border Guard forces. The third ring is made up of IDF troops protecting the forces and settlers against terror attacks.

Meanwhile, dozens of settlers barricaded themselves inside the house, mostly teenagers who came to offer resistance to the evacuation.

Area declared closed military zone

Defense Minister Amir Peretz approved Saturday night the operation to remove the settlers from the house. Peretz said women and children must be evacuated first.

On Sunday, Peretz will officially assume the post of defense minister.

At 6:15 a.m., Hebron District Commander Eli Zamir informed those barricaded inside the house the area has been declared a closed military zone and they must leave. Zamir told the settlers they will be forcefully evacuated should they fail to move out.

Saturday night, Hebron settler leader Orit Struk spoke with youths at the site and demanded that they refrain from burning tires as not to endanger lives. Struk was expected to enter the house along with the forces in an attempt to keep the clashes under control.

Earlier, police officers said settlers hurled two Molotov cocktails at them. No injuries were reported in the incident. Settlers at the house also hurled stones at the forces.

Overnight, police detained five settlers, including one that apparently punctured the tires of a Border Guard jeep. The other four detainees were said to hurl burning tires at police officers.

Security forces prepared for serious clashes with settlers and even for extreme scenarios involving settlers or Palestinians firing at troops. Many Magen David Adom ambulance teams are also in the area and are preparing to treat any wounded.

Earlier, the settlers said engineers who examined the home said it could collapse if more than 150 people enter it. Hebron settler leaders also sounded the alarm regarding the results of a violent evacuation.

"About half of all police officers at the site are not wearing badges. Police are preparing to use gas even though there are asthmatic children in the house, and an opinion provided by engineers warns the building may collapse if hundreds of people are inside it."

Hanan Greenberg contributed to the story

First Published: 05.07.06, 07:15
Latest Update: 05.07.06, 12:52

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