Following the Six-Day War in 1967, past residents of the Old City in Jerusalem who had been expelled during the War of Independence in 1948 asked for, and were granted a meeting with then Defense Minister Moshe Dayan.
They requested permission to return to their homes and property in the Old City, confiscated and occupied by Jordan. Dayan consented, and, as a result, Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter today flourishes.
Hevron Jews lost most of their assets following expulsion by the British following the 1929 riots. As I was told by a survivor of those riots: “My father wrote to the British High Commissioner and asked why the victims had been punished – why the Jews were expelled after being slaughtered. His answer: ‘I knew you couldn’t continue living together and being that there were more Arabs than Jews it was easier to expel the Jews.’”
This land was purchased from them by Rabbi Malchiel Ashkenazi, himself exiled to Turkey from Spain in 1492. In 1540 he bought that area from the Karaites and moved, with a small community, to Hevron. This Jewish neighborhood existed until the 1929 riots and massacre, followed by forced exile.
The Ezra property, within the boundaries of these two areas was stolen, according to Yossi Ezra, by the Awawi family, who had worked with his father. Then aged fifteen, Yosef Ezra still remembers this family, who worked for his father, grazing sheep.
Presently, there is no doubt whatsoever that this is Jewish land, and that there are no real, justifiable, legal Arab claims to this property. However, the State Attorney General’s office has decided that Arabs who lived on this land which they stole from Jews have ‘protected resident status’, basically squatters protected by Ottoman Law, and refuse to allow Hevron’s Jewish community to utilize the property.
This, despite a ruling by an Israeli military judicial panel of three judges which concluded that there is a firm legal basis to allow the Hevron Jewish Community to utilize this land.
We’ve been through this before. Back in Janurary, 2006 the Israeli government made a similar promise, whereby, following voluntary exit of homes in “Mitzpe Shalhevet,” other families would be allowed back in, with full permission and government permits. This offer was made with the knowledge and consent of the defense and prime ministers. After all the families moved out, then Attorney General Manny Mazuz nixed the deal. The Jews were left with nothing.
In January, 1997, when the Hevron Accords, which split Hevron, one of the three cities holy to Jews, leaving most of the city in the hands of the Palestinian Authority, were signed and implemented by Bibi Netanyahu, another government decision was passed, calling for, and promising, the continued growth and wellbeing of Hevron’s Jewish community.
It’s hard to understand how a Prime Minister, whose actions brought upon this community two and a half years of shooting attacks, murders, and other terror acts, who promised to ensure the expansion of Hevron’s Jewish Community, can allow continued shrinkage of Hebron’s housing and neighborhoods.
It has happened in Beit HaMachpela, Beit HaShalom, and now Beit Ezra, not to mention refusal of any permits to plan or build new homes. These are not examples of good will, growth, and well-being. To the contrary, they seem to be examples of how to bring about the deletion of Hevron’s Jewish community from the map.
For a start, give us back Beit Ezra. It's ours.