The site, used for worship and Torah study, was deemed an unauthorized outpost by the government. Legal challenges to the eviction order ran out last month.
The struggle between the military and the local residents over the synagogue-outpost continued throughout the morning. A 14-year-old boy and one policeman were injured lightly.
Other unauthorized outposts are also in danger of dismantling in the near future. IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon said that a plan to expel Jews from small neighborhoods the government has deemed illegal was approved, and that he believes that those neighborhoods will be uprooted in the near future. Yaalon made the statements during a meeting with President Moshe Katsav.
At first light this morning, about 50 young people were ejected from the Hazon David site. The security forces then emptied the synagogue of its books, Torah scroll and furniture. At about 5:00am, an army D9 tractor began destroying the tent, which served as a synagogue for the past three years.
During the evacuation, the gates to Kiryat Arba were locked and the road leading to Hevron was closed by order of the IDF. A short time later, after the gates were opened, furious Kiryat Arba-Hevron residents began rebuilding the synagogue, placing stone upon stone. Security forces attempted to stop the crowd, but failed. A group of men began reciting morning prayers, undisturbed, but surrounded by soldiers.
Synagogue director Rabbi Ya'akov Eichenstein, speaking to the crowd of about 150, promised that the synagogue would be rebuilt, bigger and stronger than the original tent. Hevron Jewish community spokesman Noam Arnon, addressing remarks to the security forces who participated in taking apart the synagogue, asked, "What will you tell your children on Passover eve when they ask, 'Daddy, how could you destroy a synagogue?' How will you explain the meaning of the Exodus from Egypt, allowing us to be a free people, when you are expelling Jews from their land?"
Today's demolition of Hazon David was not the first, however. On August 6, 2003, the synagogue was removed by police, as part of earlier efforts to uproot unauthorized outposts in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Hazon David synagogue was established two and half years ago, following the murders of David Cohen, at the site, and of Chezi Mualem, adjacent to the site.
See pictures of the Hazon David synagogue being torn down.
The struggle between the military and the local residents over the synagogue-outpost continued throughout the morning. A 14-year-old boy and one policeman were injured lightly.
Other unauthorized outposts are also in danger of dismantling in the near future. IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon said that a plan to expel Jews from small neighborhoods the government has deemed illegal was approved, and that he believes that those neighborhoods will be uprooted in the near future. Yaalon made the statements during a meeting with President Moshe Katsav.
At first light this morning, about 50 young people were ejected from the Hazon David site. The security forces then emptied the synagogue of its books, Torah scroll and furniture. At about 5:00am, an army D9 tractor began destroying the tent, which served as a synagogue for the past three years.
During the evacuation, the gates to Kiryat Arba were locked and the road leading to Hevron was closed by order of the IDF. A short time later, after the gates were opened, furious Kiryat Arba-Hevron residents began rebuilding the synagogue, placing stone upon stone. Security forces attempted to stop the crowd, but failed. A group of men began reciting morning prayers, undisturbed, but surrounded by soldiers.
Synagogue director Rabbi Ya'akov Eichenstein, speaking to the crowd of about 150, promised that the synagogue would be rebuilt, bigger and stronger than the original tent. Hevron Jewish community spokesman Noam Arnon, addressing remarks to the security forces who participated in taking apart the synagogue, asked, "What will you tell your children on Passover eve when they ask, 'Daddy, how could you destroy a synagogue?' How will you explain the meaning of the Exodus from Egypt, allowing us to be a free people, when you are expelling Jews from their land?"
Today's demolition of Hazon David was not the first, however. On August 6, 2003, the synagogue was removed by police, as part of earlier efforts to uproot unauthorized outposts in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Hazon David synagogue was established two and half years ago, following the murders of David Cohen, at the site, and of Chezi Mualem, adjacent to the site.
See pictures of the Hazon David synagogue being torn down.