Late on the afternoon of August 3, my sixteen-year-old son approached me and asked that I show up at the Hebron Heroes neighborhood with my camera at about ten o?clock in the evening. He told me that another attempt was being made to reestablish the site, which has been created, destroyed and evacuated three or four times ? I?ve lost count.



The neighborhood (labeled an ?outpost? by various political groups) was established following the murder of twelve men ? nine soldiers and three Kiryat Arba emergency squad civilians ? on November 15 of last year. The day after the deadly attack, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the location and immediately declared that a new neighborhood, connecting Kiryat Arba and Hebron, should be created. Of course, this is the same Ariel Sharon who, a few years ago, publicly stated that Israeli youth should ?grab hilltops and settle them.? We know the fate of ?hilltops? settled by Israeli youth during the Sharon administration. Just as we know the fortune of the new neighborhood founded between Hebron and Kiryat Arba.



Thank G-d, youth don?t give up fast. Persistence is the name of the game. Time after time, winter and summer, youngsters from Kiryat Arba and Hebron have tried to reestablish the Hebron Heroes neighborhood. They pitch tents, build temporary fences, find some old furniture, and build make-shift huts in an attempt to establish a presence on the empty land between Hebron and Kiryat Arba. Sometimes near the road, other times closer to the fence surrounding the Kirya, wherever, never surrendering.



The last time they were evicted was only a few days ago ? when, at about four in the morning, I received a beeper message requesting my presence, with my camera, to record the inevitable. By the time I arrived, the males had already been evicted, but I was in time for the girls, who, too, were pulled, pushed and carried away. Soldiers and police removed Israeli flags hung from short poles, flags, which more than anything else, signify our attachment to our land. The furniture, mattresses and other belongings were dumped on the ground in a pile, and from there, onto an awaiting army truck.



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See pictures: http://www.hebron.com/news/hebheroevic.htm

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It took only a short time for the kids to regroup, and that August night, they did it again. Small groups walked through the south gate of Kiryat Arba, carrying small sheets of corrugated metal, lined with wooden planks. Others carried down the tools, nails, etc. It didn?t take much time until the new dwelling was standing, complete with a flag hanging from the roof. Of course, the Kiryat Arba-Hebron youth weren?t the only ones to mobilize. A short time later, IDF jeeps, officers, soldiers and police had invaded the area. One of the officers, a Lt. Colonel name Tzachi, speaking to others surrounding him, showed his total ignorance of the events unfolding in front of his eyes. He said, ?I despise the use of young children who have no idea what they are doing.? This officer, presently a regiment commander, later stood about fifty meters from the group and announced through a megaphone that the area was a ?closed military zone? and that anyone not leaving within fifteen minutes would be arrested.



At about eleven thirty, the action began. Two policemen, backed by a bunch of soldiers-turned-cops, marched past the hut, turned left and found themselves face-to-face with a group of young men. The police walked up to a tall, sixteen-year-old and pounced on him, literally jumped him, as if he was a dangerous criminal. The already familiar free-for-all scuffle started and, after about fifteen minutes had passed, the boy was being dragged off into an awaiting police car. He, along with three others, were arrested during the course of the next two and a half hours.



I can testify that it isn?t easy watching such scenes, especially when they turn brutal, as happened that night. One soldier, extremely agitated, screamed at some of the kids with fire in his eyes, ?I told you that I will grind you up.? Fifteen-year-old Betzalel Lebovitch, whose brother Elazar was killed by Arab terrorists a year ago on the eve of his 21st birthday, was standing next to me. He pointed at an officer and asked that I photograph him, because, he said, ?He is beating kids murderously.? As I aimed the camera, several police and soldiers swooped down, grabbed Betzalel, and swiftly pushed him towards another police car. He, too, spent the night in jail. Not because he did anything, rather because he pointed his finger at a brute.



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See pictures: http://www.hebron.com/news/pinuifailed.htm

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The security forces tried again and again to reach the hut, but were unsuccessful. At about 1:00am, a soldier lunged at a ninth grader named David, who is small for his age. The soldier, grabbing him in an almost strangling bear hug, started carrying him towards the police vehicles. A huge uproar centered around them and others who were trying to clear the way, leading to the boy losing conscious for a short time. After being revived, he was given oxygen and released. It was a pretty horrible sight.



A short time later, Hebron?s military commander, Col. Haggai Mordechai, finally showed up and, seeing the kids with torn shirts and scratched arms and shoulders, put an end to the madness. As Col. Mordechai sent his fighting forces away from the scene, a thirteen-year-old girl from Kiryat Arba named Liora stationed herself in front of him, looked him in the eye and said, ?Why do your soldiers act this way? None of us want to hit soldiers, but why do they hit us? Why do they grin when talking about how they hit this person or clobbered someone else? Don?t you understand that we are not against the army ? we are here because twelve men were killed here, this is our land, and we don?t agree with the government?s policies? If the soldiers would respect us, nothing would happen. We would just go home. We would come back again, and again, but there wouldn?t be this kind of violence. Why can?t they respect us the way we respect them??



On Wednesday night, Tisha b?Av eve, sitting on the floor, reading the Book of Lamentations, I think I?ll have a hard time concentrating on the book?s major theme, that being the destruction, thousands of years ago, of the Temple in Jerusalem. I have a feeling I?ll be thinking about that little hut, and asking myself, if we can?t even build a shack between Kiryat Arba and Hebron, how will be ever be able to rebuild our Temple - the Beit HaMikdash?