Land of Israel activists issued an urgent call on Monday night asking the public to come to the Peace House in Hevron. Residents of Hevron reported an unusually high number of police and soldiers in the area, and said they believe the army will attempt to forcibly expel Jews from the building tonight.
Supporters of the Jewish residents of the Peace House held solidarity rallies at the Rachelim junction in Samaria, in Shilo, Yitzhar and Neve Tzuf. Hundreds of Jews have already begun making their way to Hevron.
Near the Peace House, an altercation broke out between Jews and Arabs and then between Jews and police. Jewish youths said a Jewish man was attacked by Arabs and required medical care. Police failed to protect him or to detain his attackers, they said.
Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg, whose son and daughter-in-law were among the almost 200 people murdered by Muslim terrorists in Mumbai last week, sent an urgent letter to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asking him not to expel Jews from the Peace House at this time. Israel is still mourning the Israelis murdered in the attacks, he said.
“We beg of you not to carry out this operation, which will polarize and divide the nation, detracting from the Jewish people's heavy mourning over this disaster,” Rabbi Holtzberg wrote. He thanked the government of Israel for its help in identifying the bodies of Israeli victims of the Mumbai attacks and in bringing them to Israel for burial.
Hevron spokesman Noam Arnon said Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, who is currently hospitalized in Jerusalem, had sent a message to the public saying, "Whoever lays a hand on the Peace House is laying a hand on the apple of my eye."