Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Yuval Diskin told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday that it has backed down on the plan to allow Arab traffic on "Tzir Tzion", (Zion Route). IDF representatives informed the Jewish residents of Hevron that the army is implementing the security agency's conclusions and is postponing indefinitely the disputed plan to open the sensitive route to Arabs.
The security establishment's reversal of its original intention to open the road – Hevron’s central traffic artery – to Arab traffic in the coming days follows fierce opposition by the Hevron Jewish community and intense pressure from the National Union party.
Over the last few months, the IDF has been making preparations for the opening of Zion Route to Arab cars. Several guard positions were created along the 800-meter long road and Border Police were stationed at Peace House, whether the government expelled its Jewish residents last year.
A preferred target for attacks
Hevron’s Jews were vehemently opposed to the planned change in the road’s status because the road is the only route that leads to the Cave of Patriarchs and to the Jewish community, and opening it to Arabs would expose them to an increased terror threat.
“The terrorists have always viewed it as a preferred target for attacks, as proven by the number of attacks there,” they said. “The tremendous national importance of the Machpelah Cave, where our Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried, means that safety on its access road must receive higher priority than convenient traffic arrangements for the Arabs who live nearby. Quality of life for local Arabs can under no circumstances be more important than the actual lives of Jews… Jews are not allowed to walk in the Arab areas; there is no reason to turn the small areas permitted for Jews into areas that Arabs can attack them more easily.”
'Victory for common sense'
The National Union’s Knesset faction toured the road Monday and demanded that the IDF reconsider its plan to let Arabs use the road. “Opening the route will lead to bloodshed,” said Orit Strook, a leader of Hevron’s Jewish community. “Jews are only allowed to move about in 3 percent of the city’s area, and they want to open that small part to Arab traffic as well,” she said.
The Hevron Jewish Conmmunity’s Council expressed satisfaction with the Shin Bet’s recommendation. “Our claims regarding the dangers that opening the road could bring about have been confirmed by the head of the Shin Bet,” they said. The council added that from now on, the government must make decisions “based on the risks involved and according to security recommendations, and not based on political considerations.”
MK Uri Ariel called the decision “a victory for common sense.”