By Yasmine S. Hakimian
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
HEBRON, West Bank – On December 4, Israeli troops forcibly evicted nearly 200 Jewish settlers from a contested building in Hebron. The operation to remove the settlers took about one hour and involved at least 600 Israeli soldiers. At least 20 Israeli settlers and police were injured during the eviction.
According to the New York Times, evacuees were dragged out with four police officers per person. Palestinians watched from rooftops and windows while some settlers shouted at the troops, calling them Nazis. A few settlers had sewn yellow stars on their shirts. On a wall near the confrontation, Hebrew graffiti displayed, “There will be a war over the House of Peace.”
A cloud of black smoke covered much of the neighborhood as militant supporters of the colonists set Palestinian olive fields alight and torched two homes and a dozen cars. In several areas of the city, youths clashed with Israeli security forces, who responded with tear gas.
After the eviction, clashes erupted in numerous West Bank towns as settlers expressed their anger. According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, settlers have shot and wounded three Palestinians. The Haaretz newspaper reported that settlers began to throw stones at Palestinian cars in Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron.
The contested building, which occupants had named the House of Peace, is on the road to the Cave of the Patriarchs, where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives are said to be buried. Muslims and Jews have coveted and fought over this site for centuries.
Ownership of the building has been in dispute. The settlers say that they bought the house from its Palestinian owner, but the owner claims he rescinded the deal. The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the occupants to clear the building until another court could determine ownership. The settlers refused to leave the house after the Supreme Court order.
Riyad al-Malki, the Palestinian Foreign Minister, accused the settlers of “waging war” on Palestinians and urged the United Nations Security Council to help. Robert Serry, the U.N. envoy for the Middle East, issued a statement demanding “an immediate end to the settler attacks and restraint and calm from all parties”.
The southern part of the West Bank is now designated as a closed military area in an effort to prevent further trouble from outside settlers. Now, only those who live there may enter. Within an hour of the order, cars were backed up in enormous lines at new military roadblocks.
For more information, please see:
Welt – Hebron Unrest Escalates as Palestinians React – 6 December 2008
BBC – Israeli West Bank Forces on Alert – 5 December 2008
Daily Star – Hebron Colonists Attack Palestinians After Eviction – 5 December 2008
Guardian – Jewish Settlers in Hebron Shoot Palestinian Men – 5 December 2008
