The funeral of Shalhevet Pass - the 10-month-old murdered on Monday by a Palestinian sniper - will take place on Sunday morning in Hevron. Her parents say they made the decision in response to the many requests by public figures. Until now, they had remained insistent, with the support of several rabbis, that she would not be buried until the IDF re-captures Abu Sneineh. They explained that it was a matter of \"life and death,\" and that if the IDF does not retake the hills overlooking the main Jewish neighborhood in Hevron, more murderous attacks are liable to take place. Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau was one of those who came out strongly today against the original decision.
Dozens of Jewish residents from Hevron and elsewhere clashed with police in Hevron yesterday when they began climbing Palestinian roofs and smashing solar heaters. During police attempts to stop them, which involved excessive force according to Hevron leaders, one man from the Shomron injured a policeman with a rock to his head. The injured policeman, a graduate of the nearby yeshiva high school in Kiryat Arba, later said, \"I have nothing against the Hevron people, I know many of them…\" and blamed \"outside elements\" for instigating the violence. Speaking with Arutz-7 today, he admitted that he and his colleagues had used clubs against the Jews, \"but only in self-defense.\" Hevron Jewish Community sources insisted that the police used \"unjustifiably excessive force.\"
Police officials said that the Jewish residents had crossed \"red lines,\" but said that complaints against police behavior would be investigated.
The Abu Sneineh neighborhood of Hebron was not even brought up by the Security Cabinet on Wednesday as a possible target for Israeli retaliation, according to a report in Ha\'aretz. Many of its residents have left, in anticipation of some sort of Israeli response. Israeli forces shot at least two armed snipers yesterday; the Palestinians were noticed entering a building from where shots have been fired in the past on the Jewish neighborhood below.
It should be noted that an article on the popular Hebrew news website Ynet, which was not particularly flattering to the Jewish residents of Hevron, was inundated with comments sympathetic to the plight of the Jews of Hevron; only a small minority were \"anti-Hevron.\"
IMRA commentator Dr. Aaron Lerner took Israel Radio to task today for extensively covering Rabbi Lau\'s remarks and the events of yesterday, but not questions such as the ability of the IDF to protect the Jewish community if the snipers remain in Abu Sneineh and the technical feasibility of retaking the area. Lerner also asks, \"The politicians/military men who, when Israel pulled out from Abu Sneineh, assured the public that it would be child\'s play to return - how do they explain the turn of events?\"