A contentious Hebron home will be evacuated by April 19, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said Friday. Sneh told Army Radio that entering the home, which is on the road that links Kiryat Arba with the Cave of the Patriarchs, required permission from the security establishment, irrespective of the legality of the purchase. "The choice of the location for this home is not a coincidence," added Sneh. "It is not in immediate vicinity to the other settlers homes in Hebron." Sneh said that it was part of the "strategy of these people" to change the circumstances inside Hebron.I do have to snicker at the suggestion from the Labour party MK's that the eviction is really an "evacuation". Talk about an abuse of language. And what an extraordinary thought that the sale and legal title to a property is immaterial. Peretz’s red roots are showing rather remarkably.
Security establishment officials were estimating that thousands of police and soldiers would be required for the evacuation operation if a deal was not struck with the settlers to voluntarily evacuate the building. Defense Minister Amir Peretz announced Thursday night that in two weeks he would remove the settlers who on March 19 moved into the new four-story building.
MK Effi Eitam (NRP-NU) said that Peretz had made the decision out of political considerations. "It is plain to see that the defense minister is not acting against the house in Hebron but against the house he is sitting in - the government and the coalition," Eitam told Army Radio on Friday morning. "It is a house which was bought legally," he blasted, adding, "This is real provocation."
Peretz's announcement caught the settlers in the apartment building by surprise. They had assumed that their presence in the 3,500-square meter stone structure was permissible, since, they said, they had legally purchased the structure for $700,000.
In March, the IDF provided security for the entry of the settlers to the structure, located in an area populated by Palestinians. Still, Peretz said on Thursday the settlers' presence was unauthorized because they had not sought permission from his office to enter the building.
Around the time the settlers moved in, the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, an observer group, said in a press release that the IDF had informed it that the settlers had entered the building. The army, according to TIPH, said, "The settlers bought the building from the Palestinian owner, and had a document to prove ownership."
A source in the Defense Ministry said that while the sale appeared to be legal, this was immaterial since the important issue was how the settlers entered the building. Peretz, the source said, took a "principled decision to evacuate those who had invaded the home." He did so after consulting with Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, legal advisers and other security officials, said the source. Authorities are now looking for the proper legal tools to evacuate the settlers, the Defense Ministry source said. Peretz said government policy should not be determined by the settlers' purchasing a building, but rather that "it is the government's policy that should determine the purchasing."
Arutz Sheva has more:
The joy was somewhat doused Thursday night with the announcement by Defense Minister Amir Peretz of Labor that he plans to evacuate the Jews from the building. He explained that even if the sale is legal, the residents had failed to obtain permission from the defense establishment before moving in, as is required in Judea and Samaria. Labor MK Ephraim Sneh seconded Peretz's position.
Peretz has been under fire within his Labor Party for not evacuating Jewish outposts in Judea and Samaria as he promised. His decision was thus greeted by many political figures (see below) as merely serving his own political needs. By Friday, however, it appeared likely that Peretz would have a hard time implementing his decision. MK Effie Eitam said that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told him last week that he would not allow Peretz to evacuate the building. "If the building in Hevron was acquired legally," Olmert reportedly told Eitam, "I won't let Peretz evacuate it." Eitam said he met with the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Roni Bar-On (Kadima) on the issue.
"Evacuating this building," Eitam said he told Olmert, "would be against rules of natural justice and the legitimate rights of Jews to acquire property and to live in their homes everywhere in the Land of Israel."
In addition, Kadima MK Otniel Schneller said that most of his party colleagues in the Knesset intend to block Peretz’s "politically-based" plan to evacuate Peace House. Kadima Knesset faction leader Avigdor Yitzchaki also expressed his support for the Jewish residents of Peace House in a visit Thursday afternoon, together with Likud MK Gidon Saar.
"Peretz must not be allowed to throw the whole country into a tizzy because of his own personal political considerations," MK Eitam said, in reference to Peretz's all-but-lost bid to retain his leadership of the Labor Party. Labor will hold party primaries for the leadership late next month.
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Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan, head of the Pensioners Party and a veteran defense figure, told Arutz-7's Uzi Baruch today that he supports the Jewish presence in the new building. "The building must remain in Jewish hands," Eitan said, "because it is in territory that is totally Israel. In 1996, an agreement was signed [giving away most of Hevron to the Palestinian Authority - ed.] that essentially divides Hevron [into Jewish and Arab areas]. That agreement stipulates clearly that the road between the Machpelah Cave and Kiryat Arba remains under Israeli control - and therefore this building must remain Israeli."
The Deputy Mayor of Beit Shemesh, Shalom Lerner, visited the new building on Friday and promised support for the residents against Defense Minister Peretz's stated intention to throw them out. Meeting with those currently living in the building, Lerner said, "The residents of Beit Shemesh [40 kilometers northwest of Hevron - ed.] encourage and strengthen you in your efforts to fortify the Jewish presence in Hevron, and they will stand with you here and struggle against any attempt to evict you. Attempts to throw you out stand in opposition to natural justice and the position of most Israeli citizens. I will call upon the residents of Beit Shemesh to join the struggle for this building, so that Peretz - who failed in protecting our security - won't fail in Hevron as well."
Needless to say, the Jewish community of Hebron is prepared to fight the eviction and will appeal to the Israeli high court. The Yesha Council is now calling for the rescinding of the eviction order. And as far as I can determine, Jordanian and Palestinian Authority are still holding under arrest the former Arab former owners.
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