This has to be one of the more despicable acts in Jewish history...an Israeli government collaborating in the racist notion that parts of the Holy Land need to be `Jew free' for the sake of `peace' and using people sworn to defend the country to forcibly evict their fellow Jews.
Today, the expulsion of two families from their homes in the Shalhevet neighborhood, built on the site of the former Hevron marketplace, was completed. Three thousand Border Guard officers, Yassam special forces and IDF soldiers forcibly evicted the families as well as hundreds of their supporters in an operation that began in the cover of early morning darkness.
The marketplace, by the way, is on land originally purchased by the Jewish National Fund and confiscated by Jordan after 1948...when any Jews in Hebron, or for that matter in all of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) including the Old City of Jerusalem were ethnically cleansed by the Arab Legion and their British officers.
The Olmert government chose Shalhevet as an example of its willingness to confront the so-called `settlers' and to bend over backwards for an imitation of peace...just like Oslo.
The IDF and the police demolished all of the homes built in the neighborhood, named for Shalhevet Pas, the Little Flame z"l.
Hevron Jewish community spokesman Noam Arnon said Jews would return to the Hevron marketplace, built on top of the ruins of the city's old Jewish Quarter, the site of the 1929 massacre. "We will return to the Shalhevet neighborhood and the families will be back in their homes," he vowed.
It's worth noting that Army officials made a deal a year and a half ago with the eleven families who lived in Shalhevet, saying they would be allowed to return with legal status on the condition they left the premises peacefully. Nine of the families bought that, and left....and then Olmert's Attorney General Menachem Mazuz quickly reneged on the agreement. Today's festivities represents the forcible eviction of the other two families.
Thirteen people were arrested during the expulsion, accused of attacking police and throwing stones. It was not what could be characterized as a peaceful event, and the protesters and residents did not go quietly.
Professors for a Strong Israel strongly condemned the expulsion efforts. "We are dealing with stores that were built on the ruins of Hevron's Jewish Quarter, whose residents were murdered and their property looted exactly 78 years ago, said a statement by the group. "The expulsion of Jews once again from property that is Jewish is the fulfillment of the intentions of the rioters who sought to uproot any Jewish presence in Hevron as the first step in ridding all of Israel of Jews."
In fact, the Olmert government didn't get it all their own way.
A dozen IDF soldiers from the Duchifat Battalion including two squad leaders refused to participate in the eviction of their fellow Jews, and the indication is that the IDF is trying to hush up and hide a much larger incident by focusing on these twelve soldiers as an example. They all received brig time and fines.
According to one source,an entire battalion of the Kfir Brigade refused to participate in this travesty. And a number of other soldiers and police went on sick leave to avoid explicitly refusing orders.
This will not end here....and if the Olmert government continues with its grandiose plans to evict the rest of the Jewish population from most of Judea and Samaria, today's resistance is a mere taste of what may be in store.
What they are doing is evil and it needs to be stopped..plain and simple.
UPDATE: By this time, I've received a number of e-mails from Israel... from some IDF members who are sickened by what they were forced to do, and Jews who have recounted to me the absolute brutality with which they were treated, particularly by the police and the Yassam.
I won't - can't - relate the details here. It's too depressing. You would expect to read things like this in a story about China or Iran suppressing `dissidents.'
This is a watershed event, a turning point in Israel's history.
My heart and prayers go out to the brave people who took a stand today for the simple principle that a Jew should be allowed to live in peace in the land G-d gave them. There will be a price to pay for what happened today, and it may be greater than the perpetrators imagine in their wildest dreams.
Forgive my ignorance, but I have a few questions. First of all, just how important is Hebron? Is it the site of an important Jewish religous facility? Have Jews maintained a presence there for a long time?
ReplyDeleteAnd who exactly supports Olmert right now, if anybody?
Hi Nazar,
ReplyDeleteI'll answer your questions in reverse order...sort of
Jews have lived in Hebron for centuries, and had a more or less continuous presence barring certain periods of expulsion by various conquerors. The latest instance of a continuous Jewish community there dates from the Ottoman conquest in 1517, and lasted until the Arab massacres in 1929 and 1931, which were followed by the ethnic cleansing of all Jews from what you would call the West Bank in 1948.
Hebron is the site of the second most sacred shrine in Judaism after the Temple Mount, the Me'arat HaMachpela, Cave of the Patriarchs.
This is the burial place of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah.The Bible relates how Abraham bought the cave as a burial plot for his family for 400 silver shekels.
The land where the Shalhevet neighborhood stands was purchased from the Ottomans in 1807.
Is it important? Aside from the religious and historical meaning, it's important because this is Jewish land in Israel. And if Jews don't have the right to live peaceably on land they own in Hebron, they don't have the right to live peaceably in Tel Aviv..or anywhere else, really.
The city of Compton,California was originally a white suburb
(baseball great Duke Snider's home town)that later became predominantly black and is now becoming predominantly Hispanic.
Would anyone have the nerve to say that any of these groups who legally acquired property there and wanted to live in it should be expelled `for peace'?
As for who supports Olmert..it breaks down to the hardline Israeli Left, the Arab parties and a few venal politicians unwilling to go to elections because they would be voted out of power. Oh yes - and the Bush Administration, because the Olmert government is extremely bendable.
You have to also remember that Olmert is currently under indictment for bribery, and is willing to do whatever he needs to to stay in office and avoid a criminal trial for as long as possible.
In terms of popular support, Olmert has been in single digits for a long time.
And yes, it astounds me that he hasn't been thrown out of office by now.