The Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria has issued demolition orders for 15 uninhabited Arab structures in Hevron. The buildings are located between the Machpelah Cave and the site of the ambush battle in which 12 Israeli soldiers and fighters were killed two weeks ago. The structures currently line a narrow winding alley along which visitors to Jewish Hevron walk.
Hevron Jews have mixed feelings about the plan to take down these buildings, as the army plans to widen the road and line it with a concrete wall. The residents, who have long claimed that the defensive approach of adding fortifications is not the right answer to terrorism, feel that the wall will render them easy targets of terrorists standing safely behind it.
Following the calamitous ambush battle, the army attempted to line much of the route between Hevron and Kiryat Arba, named Rav Goren Way, with concrete blocks. This plan has been temporarily shelved, however, as residents threatened to create and use an alternative route between the two cities. The residents say that the only true protection is a contiguous Jewish presence leading from Kiryat Arba to Hevron. Five families are already living in the newly-formed Giborei Hevron (Heroes of Hevron) neighborhood just across from the battle site. It is assumed that the government will not move to evacuate them before the elections eight weeks from now. The residents are thus in a "race against the clock" to buttress the neighborhood and create facts on the ground before then.
Hevron Jews have mixed feelings about the plan to take down these buildings, as the army plans to widen the road and line it with a concrete wall. The residents, who have long claimed that the defensive approach of adding fortifications is not the right answer to terrorism, feel that the wall will render them easy targets of terrorists standing safely behind it.
Following the calamitous ambush battle, the army attempted to line much of the route between Hevron and Kiryat Arba, named Rav Goren Way, with concrete blocks. This plan has been temporarily shelved, however, as residents threatened to create and use an alternative route between the two cities. The residents say that the only true protection is a contiguous Jewish presence leading from Kiryat Arba to Hevron. Five families are already living in the newly-formed Giborei Hevron (Heroes of Hevron) neighborhood just across from the battle site. It is assumed that the government will not move to evacuate them before the elections eight weeks from now. The residents are thus in a "race against the clock" to buttress the neighborhood and create facts on the ground before then.