But the confrontation over Hazon David was not over – not by a long shot.
This morning, police again clashed with civilians at Hazon David when the security forces began dismantling the makeshift structures that had been set up overnight at the site. Dozens of police forcefully charged the renewed structure and arrested ten civilians, including a spokeswoman for the Jewish community of Hevron, Orit Struck.
Struck told IsraelNN today that she was arrested by male police officers even though female officers were present, in contravention of the commitment made by the district commander not to employ male officers against women during such operations.
Calling the current sites evacuated "unmanned", IDF officials indicated that only following the Passover holiday, will they will begin removing manned unauthorized outposts. The decision to delay the latter operation was made in order to avoid intruding on the joy of the holiday, as well as to avoid carrying it out during the school vacation, when many of the youth may be able to take part in protest activities.
"What is the objective of destroying a synagogue in the Land of Israel? If such a thing would happen in the most far corner of the world, the whole country would be up in arms, including, chiefly, the Prime Minister," said Knesset Member Uri Ariel of the National Union party.
MK Ariel said that he joins his voice to the call by the Rabbinical Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza for the public to struggle against the uprooting of outposts. It must be made clear to the Prime Minister, Ariel explained, that the Hazon David synagogue, named for terror victim David Cohen, will not fall: "He can destroy it one thousand times, and it will be rebuilt exactly one thousand and one times. No one will give up on this matter."
Abd Al-Hadi Hantash, a municipal official from the Palestinian Authority-controlled area of Hevron agrees but for very different reasons. Speaking with a correspondent of the Al-Jazeera satellite network, Hantash said, "[The] settlers will move [the structures] back on to the same site tomorrow or after tomorrow after the whole world got the impression that a settlement had been dismantled." He called the removal of Hazon David "a big lie…. It seems to me that Sharon wants to give an impression that he is dismantling settlements ahead of his planned visit to Washington. …It is a cynical public relations game, nothing more than that."
This morning, police again clashed with civilians at Hazon David when the security forces began dismantling the makeshift structures that had been set up overnight at the site. Dozens of police forcefully charged the renewed structure and arrested ten civilians, including a spokeswoman for the Jewish community of Hevron, Orit Struck.
Struck told IsraelNN today that she was arrested by male police officers even though female officers were present, in contravention of the commitment made by the district commander not to employ male officers against women during such operations.
Calling the current sites evacuated "unmanned", IDF officials indicated that only following the Passover holiday, will they will begin removing manned unauthorized outposts. The decision to delay the latter operation was made in order to avoid intruding on the joy of the holiday, as well as to avoid carrying it out during the school vacation, when many of the youth may be able to take part in protest activities.
"What is the objective of destroying a synagogue in the Land of Israel? If such a thing would happen in the most far corner of the world, the whole country would be up in arms, including, chiefly, the Prime Minister," said Knesset Member Uri Ariel of the National Union party.
MK Ariel said that he joins his voice to the call by the Rabbinical Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza for the public to struggle against the uprooting of outposts. It must be made clear to the Prime Minister, Ariel explained, that the Hazon David synagogue, named for terror victim David Cohen, will not fall: "He can destroy it one thousand times, and it will be rebuilt exactly one thousand and one times. No one will give up on this matter."
Abd Al-Hadi Hantash, a municipal official from the Palestinian Authority-controlled area of Hevron agrees but for very different reasons. Speaking with a correspondent of the Al-Jazeera satellite network, Hantash said, "[The] settlers will move [the structures] back on to the same site tomorrow or after tomorrow after the whole world got the impression that a settlement had been dismantled." He called the removal of Hazon David "a big lie…. It seems to me that Sharon wants to give an impression that he is dismantling settlements ahead of his planned visit to Washington. …It is a cynical public relations game, nothing more than that."