The IDF plans to use the disputed Beit HaShalom (Peace House) in Hevron as quarters and an outlook post for soldiers after opening a previously-closed street for Arab drivers. The government last December expelled Jewish residents of the apartment complex until a court ruling decides who the legal owner is.
Jews have presented a videotape of the purchase of the building from its Arab owner. After being threatened with death by other Arabs, including officials from the Palestinian Authority, he denied that he sold it and claimed that documents of the sale were forged.
Orit Struck, one of the heads of the Jewish community in Hevron, slammed the IDF decision to take over the property. “This is not how one conducts affairs with any property owner who wants to take over a property. We didn’t receive any official announcement in writing from any official, and this is extremely outrageous,” she said. Furthermore, Struck added, “It would have been proper for the High Court, themselves, to declare that we are in fact the property owners. They should give us an orderly response and not conduct affairs in a barbaric way. Besides this, the decision to open the Zion Road is a mistake of the system, especially prior to the change of administration.”
The Zion Road, which until now has been closed to Arab traffic, is the only road that connects the nearby Jewish city of Kiryat Arba with Hevron. "When it was open to Arab traffic, Jewish lives were at stake," said Hevron Jewish community spokesman David Wilder.
The IDF stated that the posting of the soldiers in Beit HaShalom comes in wake of the traffic changes in the area, and that officials who claim the rights to the property have been informed. “It should be emphasized that this is a temporary holding that is not intended to influence the rights to the structure and the legal proceedings between the litigants to the home,” the IDF said in a statement.
Wilder said a legal team is working intensively to prepare for a court battle for ownership of the property. However, he said it is likely that the Jewish residents’ claims may fall on deaf ears. “We realize that we’re dealing with a justice system that is not necessarily objective. The Prosecutor’s office is against us,” Wilder commented.
“They want to take over a building worth over $1 million. This is certainly more than a slap in the face, and it’s hypocrisy to expel its Jewish residents out of the house then take it over by military order,” Wilder said, continuing, “It’s a tremendous chutzpah of Defense Minister Ehud Barak in his final days in office to still be taking measures that are definitely life-threatening, and which should be left to our discussions in the next government.”
Wilder added that the Jewish community is hoping to prevent the IDF from carrying out the decision by pressuring Barak before he leaves office. “I hope that we’ll have more to say with the people coming into office,” Wilder added.