A slight damper was placed on yesterday's Hevron joy when the Supreme Court re-issued a restraining order this morning against the demolition of Arab structures along Worshipers' Path, between Kiryat Arba and Hevron. Central Command General Moshe Kaplinsky issued the original demolition order a year ago, following the ambush attack on Worshipers' Path in which 12 Israelis were killed. The military had requested permission to raze the buildings because of the danger they presented to the thousands of Jewish worshipers who walk each week along that narrow street to the Machpelah Cave.
The army's order originally encompassed 20 buildings, was then reduced to 9, and of late was decimated to 2.5. Still and all, Supreme Court Justice Mishael Cheshin ruled that Kaplinsky's hand was "probably too quick" to sign the order.