Noam Arnon, spokesman for the Jewish Community of Hevron, made the following presentation on Arutz-7 today:
"We're used to arrests here, and even violent arrests, but yesterday's arrest of Adi Kolani was probably one of the most violent. One of the boys who founded Givat Elazar - a hilltop near Maaleh Hever named after terrorism-victim Elazar Liebovitch - Adi was arrested yesterday while shopping in a hardware store in Kiryat Arba. He was arrested violently by one of those extra-strength police teams that are operating here only against Jews in the area; lately, they have been using violence, mainly against the youths known as the "Hilltop Youths." These boys spent months, day and night, working very hard to clear rocks, work the land, and build Givat Elazar. The police destroyed what they built about two weeks ago, but they have not sufficed with that; they still continue to systematically pursue all those who were involved in building the site.
"Yesterday it was Adi Kolani. The police beat him - and we know who they are; it's not the first time they have done this. Adi was imprisoned in the police station. We demanded that he received medical attention, and only at midnight last night was a doctor permitted to see him. The doctor said that he in fact had received a very strong beating, and that a rib may have been broken. Only after a long struggle was he taken to the hospital. It is still not clear whether a rib was broken, but in any event today he was released from his arrest.
"How can it be that youths who want nothing more than to settle Eretz Yisrael can be beaten this way? Even if their outpost is defined as illegal, so what? They didn't take land from anyone; they were building on state-owned lands. Is this how the police treat the thousands of Bedouin who have taken over many of Israel's precious lands in the Negev? This is clear discrimination against a Jewish group that, even if doesn't walk in the same path as others, is involved only in trying to build the Land… We protest the actions of the Israel Police, which has here in Hevron a high percentage of policemen and officers who are violent and who follow a policy of discrimination against Jews and particularly against these youths."
Hevron residents also decried another development of yesterday: a temporary injunction issued by the Supreme Court stopping construction of a residential building in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood. Archaeologists and Peace Now leader Mossi Raz brought suit claiming that the construction is causing damage to antiquities at the site. Construction is to be stopped until another hearing in two weeks' time. The building in question is designed to give the long-time Jewish residents currently living in caravans a measure of protection against terrorist shootings; Rabbi Shlomo Raanan was murdered in one of those homes in August 1998. Photos of the site, including both the old and the new, can be seen at "www.hebron.com/news/telrumeidabldg.htm". Hevron spokespersons noted that former Labor Party Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer approved the plans, as did Dr. Yitzhak Magen, responsible for archeological excavations in Judea and Samaria. "Both the suit against continued construction in Hevron and the court injunction stopping work in Tel Rumeida are politically motivated," noted the spokespersons.
"We're used to arrests here, and even violent arrests, but yesterday's arrest of Adi Kolani was probably one of the most violent. One of the boys who founded Givat Elazar - a hilltop near Maaleh Hever named after terrorism-victim Elazar Liebovitch - Adi was arrested yesterday while shopping in a hardware store in Kiryat Arba. He was arrested violently by one of those extra-strength police teams that are operating here only against Jews in the area; lately, they have been using violence, mainly against the youths known as the "Hilltop Youths." These boys spent months, day and night, working very hard to clear rocks, work the land, and build Givat Elazar. The police destroyed what they built about two weeks ago, but they have not sufficed with that; they still continue to systematically pursue all those who were involved in building the site.
"Yesterday it was Adi Kolani. The police beat him - and we know who they are; it's not the first time they have done this. Adi was imprisoned in the police station. We demanded that he received medical attention, and only at midnight last night was a doctor permitted to see him. The doctor said that he in fact had received a very strong beating, and that a rib may have been broken. Only after a long struggle was he taken to the hospital. It is still not clear whether a rib was broken, but in any event today he was released from his arrest.
"How can it be that youths who want nothing more than to settle Eretz Yisrael can be beaten this way? Even if their outpost is defined as illegal, so what? They didn't take land from anyone; they were building on state-owned lands. Is this how the police treat the thousands of Bedouin who have taken over many of Israel's precious lands in the Negev? This is clear discrimination against a Jewish group that, even if doesn't walk in the same path as others, is involved only in trying to build the Land… We protest the actions of the Israel Police, which has here in Hevron a high percentage of policemen and officers who are violent and who follow a policy of discrimination against Jews and particularly against these youths."
Hevron residents also decried another development of yesterday: a temporary injunction issued by the Supreme Court stopping construction of a residential building in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood. Archaeologists and Peace Now leader Mossi Raz brought suit claiming that the construction is causing damage to antiquities at the site. Construction is to be stopped until another hearing in two weeks' time. The building in question is designed to give the long-time Jewish residents currently living in caravans a measure of protection against terrorist shootings; Rabbi Shlomo Raanan was murdered in one of those homes in August 1998. Photos of the site, including both the old and the new, can be seen at "www.hebron.com/news/telrumeidabldg.htm". Hevron spokespersons noted that former Labor Party Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer approved the plans, as did Dr. Yitzhak Magen, responsible for archeological excavations in Judea and Samaria. "Both the suit against continued construction in Hevron and the court injunction stopping work in Tel Rumeida are politically motivated," noted the spokespersons.