Police attacked the two-year-old family home of Noam and Elisheva Federman around midnight Thursday for the second time in a week, violently arresting supporters and destroying one storeroom. One 16-year-old girl was knocked unconscious, and four others also were wounded. The police withdrew after a large number of nationalists arrived on the scene.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Police said three of their forces also suffered injuries, and three people were arrested. Federman and his wife have been a target of the government for years, and police last Saturday night staged a late night raid, destroying the family home, injuring American-born Elisheva Federman and separating her from her baby and children.
The Federmans and their supporters charged that the destruction was carried out illegally and that the police were guilty of excessive violence, a charge that was repeated in Thursday night's attack. Police claimed that the nationalists attacked as security forces were leaving and added that they would investigate any complaint of illegal violence.
Supporters of the Federmans began raising funds and rebuilding the destroyed home immediately after the destruction last Saturday night and vowed to return and rebuild after Thursday night's attack. The home is located at Kiryat Arba-Hevron, and the government has said that the building is illegal.
The police raid came several hours after Kiryat Arba-Hevron residents circulated a letter calling for supporters to add buildings on the property and to break down the fence that "separates us from our land."
"The concept of fences and walls is intended to instill fear so that crossing a fence means 'this is not ours,'" the letter stated. "The fence gives Arabs the ability to graze the land and choke the Jewish community. It conveys the message that we are foreigners in our own land."
The <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />