Evacuation under way in Hebron as police arrive en masse
Dec. 3, 2008
tovah lazaroff, yaakov katz, and jpost staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
tovah lazaroff, yaakov katz, and jpost staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
Following an inconclusive meeting between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Yesha Council leaders earlier in the day, a large police force arrived at the disputed Beit Hashalom building in Hebron on Thursday afternoon and began evacuating the protesters inside.
Dozens of police entered the building upon arrival, while other police formed a line in front with shields to prevent demonstrators from disrupting the activity.
Moments before their arrival, right-wing activist Baruch Marzel warned those in the area of the imminent arrival of the police force.
Minutes after police entered the building, protesters began to come out. Some walked out, while others were dragged or carried by security forces. Demonstrators at the scene said that at least 20 people had been injured just ten minutes into the operation. Channel 10 reported that one person had been seriously wounded.
At one point during the evacuation, soldiers entered the portion of the building which had been used as a sanctuary by the Jewish occupants, and where 20 to 30 people were praying. Police began to pull out the protesters as they yelled, "God is one."
As police cleared away the last of the teens from the synagogue, other officers in a nearby hallway began to kick in a wall that leads to an apartment where a family has lived for the past year and a half.
IDF officers from the Central Command said an order was given to evacuate the protesters "with the utmost sensitivity, but we will use force if we are met with violence."
Meanwhile, a very large convoy of IDF vehicles was making its way to the scene by way of Road 60, in the West Bank.
The office of the defense minister issued a statement shortly after the operation began in which he said that the evacuation was ordered "after all the dialogue failed and after meetings with Yesha leaders did not bring resolution."
Earlier on Thursday, Barak and leaders from the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip met to discuss the evacuation of the Hebron house.
At the end of the meeting, Barak told Yesha leaders that "settler leaders and the inhabitants of Beit Hashalom must abide by the law and evacuate the house as instructed by an existing court ruling while simultaneously going to a hastened court proceeding over the future of the house."
The defense minister also said that the IDF would assume control of the house until the ownership claims are settled in court.
Yesha leaders reiterated that a peaceful solution could be found, one that avoided further violence and expressed hope that Barak would not miss the opportunity to do everything possible to reach a compromise.
On Thursday morning, the meeting between the two sides was held in hopes of reaching a compromise that would avert the evacuation of the house.
Defense officials said Thursday's meeting was the "last chance" Barak planned to give the settlers before ordering the IDF and the Israel Police to use force to evacuate the building.
Barak insisted Wednesday night that he planned to evacuate the house even as settler leaders tried to negotiate a compromise and politicians, including those on the Right, sharply criticized the violent tactics of the activists who have streamed into the city to defend the structure.
"We will not allow a small group of extremists to undermine the state's authority," Barak told Channel 2. "The [High Court of Justice's eviction] order will be implemented within the time frame set by the court."
He spoke as right-wing activists clashed with security personnel in Hebron for the fourth day in a row, causing border policemen to don riot gear and throw stun grenades at those who had lobbed stones at them.
Israeli media outlets reported on Thursday that Defense Ministry officials secretly met late Wednesday night with settlers inside the Hebron house in effort to come to a last-minute arrangement which would both avert a bloody evacuation, and keep with the ruling of the High Court of Justice.
Barak, officials said, had already been presented with the operational plans for an evacuation that would include more than 2,000 policemen and soldiers operating in several circles around Beit Hashalom. Police would be tasked with the actual evacuation from the home, and the IDF would prevent additional activists from reaching the area.
The Council of Jewish Communities plans to ask Barak on Thursday morning to delay the evacuation, if the district court agrees to fast-track the proceedings regarding the ownership dispute, so it can be finished within weeks or months, according to council head Dani Dayan.
"If we can get to a quick resolution of the civil case in Jerusalem, the problem is solved by itself. There would not be any need to take any action," Dayan said.
On November 16 the High Court ruled that the state could evacuate the building even though its ownership had yet to be resolved by the Jerusalem District Court.
The Jewish Community of Hebron, which in March 2007 moved nine families into the structure on Worshipers' Way, at the edge of the city near Kiryat Arba, says it bought the building for close to $1 million. The Palestinian seller has said that no such transaction took place.
Defense officials, however, said they did not expect Thursday's meeting with the settlers to bear fruit.
"The activists in the home do not listen to their rabbis or to the official settler leadership," a defense official said. "They are interested in a holy religious war and in setting the entire West Bank on fire."
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