Jewish Settlers Forcibly Removed From Hebron

The situation in Hebron indeed appears to be a riot. Jewish settlers in the historic city of Hebron, and which is home to the Cave/Tomb of Machpellah, burial location of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish faith, has long been a flashpoint. Jews are outnumbered by Muslims in the city by a huge margin (160,000 to 500). FoxNews reports:

The settlers claim the property was owned by Jewish families for decades until Jordanian authorities seized it after the 1948 Israeli war of independence. Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in 1967.

"This is a crime against justice and against Jewish history," said Noam Arnon, a spokesman for the Hebron settlers. "I am sure we will return. Hebron has a long history and we will return."

Danny Poleg, a police spokesman, said four soldiers, two police officers and two settlers were lightly injured during the evacuation. No arrests were made.

Police forces broke through the fortified apartment doors using bars and metal clippers, carrying the settlers out one by one.

The operation follows the highly publicized refusal of several Orthodox Israeli infantry soldiers to take part in the evacuation.

On Monday, the army made clear it would not tolerate any form of mutiny and sentenced a dozen of the soldiers, including two commanders, to brief terms in jail.

I had visited Hebron during the summer of 1993 and I was struck by the crushing poverty of the place and the strong Israeli Army presence. Nowhere else in the country was the presence that visible and I was able to walk through the market in the plaza in front of the cave as well as visit the Hadassah House and Jewish Quarter nearby. We did not have access to the Tomb directly as there were Muslim prayers ongoing.

In 1994 Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims praying at the Tomb, killing 29 people before he was killed. The market in front of the Tomb has remained closed since 1994 and Jewish settlers have had restricted access to the Tomb.

This is an untenable situation no matter how you look at it. Jews should and must have the right to pray at the shrine and the Israeli government's forcible removal of settlers who wish to live in Hebron is creating a Jewish free area where Palestinians live. The same thing happened in Gaza, and instead of Palestinians using the opportunity to build up economic and social programs, the Palestinians launched into a rocket and mortar war with Israel that continues to this day. The fear remains that the Palestinians will engage in a multifront campaign against Israel from other territories from which Israel has withdrawn and all of Fatah's claims that they'll comply are meaningless if they lack the power to do anything about it. Fatah is not in control in Gaza - Hamas is. That's why so many diplomats, including PM Olmert, are willing to take another shot at giving Fatah a chance to do something here, despite the fact that the Palestinians do not consider land for peace to be sufficent unless all of Israel is given to them.

Dozens of Israelis have been injured in the clashes between the settlers and soldiers.

What's worse is the insubordination among the ranks of soldiers that were ordered to carry out the removal. This strikes me as the right tone:

Also, NU/NRP Chairman Zevulun Orlev said that all acts of insubordination in the IDF must be condemned, but criticized the decision to send soldiers to evacuate the buildings in Hebron.

"There can be no justification for insubordination, as it causes harm to the IDF and the power of the state of Israel," he said.

"Just the same, the government should be condemned for the foolish decision to recruit the IDF for policing tasks aimed at evacuating Jewish families whose property was stolen during the events of 1929 and who have the right to live in Hebron," added Orlev.