Defense Minister Ehud Barak and leaders of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) met on Thursday morning to discuss the controversial Hevron building. It is still not clear whether Barak will agree to let the courts decide before attempting a potentially lethal forced eviction.
Barak appeared at a Pensioners Conference after the meeting, and did not sound conciliatory or compromising. “This building will be evacuated,” he said. “The building will be under IDF and state control until the court decides to whom it belongs.”
Danny Dayan, head of the Yesha Council, admitted that Barak’s statement was “not a good sign.” However, he added, “Let’s wait and see. He heard our proposal, but did not respond. Let’s see.”
The Yesha Council proposes to file a request for the District Court to speed up the process, and asks that Barak agree to delay the eviction until the Court hears the evidence concerning the sale and hands down a ruling.
The previous legal ruling – a Supreme Court decision that the State may evict the Jewish residents before a District Court ruling – did not deal with the actual evidence regarding the sale. The Jewish owners and residents are confident that the evidence, which includes documents as well as audio and video recordings, will prove that the building was bought from the Arab owner fair and square.
Also present at the meeting with Dayan and Barak were former Yesha Council head Pinchas Wallerstein, Mount Hevron Regional Council head Tzviki Bar-Chai, and senior Yesha Council figure Ze’ev Chever, known as Zambish.
Wallerstein said, “I’m not particularly optimistic. Barak’s words are not encouraging, but on the other hand, some of his aides sounded a little better. I can’t say what will happen.”
IsraelNN: “What did Barak say about the fact that the Supreme Court does not ‘require’ him to evict, but rather ‘allows’ him to do so?”
Wallerstein: “He does not accept that interpretation.”
IsraelNN: “But it’s written black on white, that the building ‘can’ be evacuated…”
Wallerstein: “Barak is not willing to allow law-breakers to determine the State’s actions… I don’t think he’s as afraid of having another Amona, or worse, as we think…”
IsraelNN: “What’s the next step?”
Wallerstein: “We don’t know.”