Kol Rina News Agency reports that the police employed strong violence against civilians, including women and children, who came to protest the expulsion of the Jews from the Jewish-owned land. The police say they were pelted with eggs and paint.
The area in question was emptied of its Jews during the Hevron massacre of 1929, when Arab mobs slaughtered 67 Jews in their homes and synagogues.
Hevron Jewish Community Spokesman David Wilder said, "They sent in the storm-troopers today. Dozens of police and soldiers came, and their goal was to hand out expulsion orders - and they failed. People refused to open the doors, and the forces were not even able to tape them to the doors. They got close to the doors, but they were pushed back, and they did not succeed in giving official notice of an impending evacuation. I heard that 6-7 people were arrested. People are very upset at the government's intention, and it appears that this was just a little taste of what the reaction will be if the government continues to try to throw them out. They showed that Hevron is not Gush Katif, and we have no intention of hugging and kissing the forces who come to throw us out of our homes."
One policeman was injured in the fracas, as was resident Baruch Marzel.
Spokesman Noam Arnon said, "This government, unsurprisingly, is clearly capable of carrying out the desires of those who murdered the dozens of Jews in Hevron in 1929, and throwing out Jews from Jewish land. It was exactly in this area, among others, that the Jews were killed... We merited to see Jews return to their land, but now the government wants to throw them out once again."
Hevron is considered Judaism's second-holiest city. It is home to the Machpelah Cave, in which are buried the Patriarchs and Matriarchs Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah.
For almost 400 years, until 1929, Jews lived on a large plot of land in Hevron, commonly known as the Jewish Quarter. In August of that year, however, Arab residents massacred their Jewish neighbors, cruelly murdering 67 Jews in their homes. The survivors were hurriedly evacuated from the area, thus putting an end to the Jewish presence in the holy city for nearly four decades. The Jewish property, including houses and synagogues, was abandoned and left uninhabited.
In 1953, Jordanian troops assisted Hevron's Arab population in devastating the remains of the Jewish Quarter. The beautiful Avraham Avinu Synagogue was razed and turned into a goat sty, and apartment buildings were destroyed. Virtually nothing remained of the Quarter's earlier splendor, and the Jordanians built an outdoor food market on part of the land. The market continued to operate even after the Jews returned with the IDF's liberation of the city during the Six Day War in 1967.
Just over a decade ago, when Arab-initiated violence in Hevron was at one of its highs, the army decided to clear out the Arab store-owners in the marketplace. "The sole purpose for the closing," Wilder wrote at the time, "was to provide security for the Jews in Hevron, [which had been] jeopardized by the hundreds of Arabs who frequented the market every day." Then-IDF Chief of Staff Maj-Gen. Ehud Barak supported the decision.
Several years later, after 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass was shot to death by terrorists with a bullet to her head, Jews decided to renew their title to the land. They began renovating the stores, turning them into inhabitable apartments, and moving families in. Eleven families currently live there.
However, Arabs sued in Israel's Supreme Court against what they called the "infiltration" of the Jews to the stores in the Hevron market, and in fact, in 2003, the State committed itself to evict the Jews.
Hevron spokesman Noam Arnon said at the time, "The Supreme Court recently decided that the land should be given to the Arabs, even though it is clearly Jewish land that was robbed from us... The Court simply ignored the fact that this is Jewish land."
The area in question was emptied of its Jews during the Hevron massacre of 1929, when Arab mobs slaughtered 67 Jews in their homes and synagogues.
Hevron Jewish Community Spokesman David Wilder said, "They sent in the storm-troopers today. Dozens of police and soldiers came, and their goal was to hand out expulsion orders - and they failed. People refused to open the doors, and the forces were not even able to tape them to the doors. They got close to the doors, but they were pushed back, and they did not succeed in giving official notice of an impending evacuation. I heard that 6-7 people were arrested. People are very upset at the government's intention, and it appears that this was just a little taste of what the reaction will be if the government continues to try to throw them out. They showed that Hevron is not Gush Katif, and we have no intention of hugging and kissing the forces who come to throw us out of our homes."
One policeman was injured in the fracas, as was resident Baruch Marzel.
Spokesman Noam Arnon said, "This government, unsurprisingly, is clearly capable of carrying out the desires of those who murdered the dozens of Jews in Hevron in 1929, and throwing out Jews from Jewish land. It was exactly in this area, among others, that the Jews were killed... We merited to see Jews return to their land, but now the government wants to throw them out once again."
Hevron is considered Judaism's second-holiest city. It is home to the Machpelah Cave, in which are buried the Patriarchs and Matriarchs Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah.
For almost 400 years, until 1929, Jews lived on a large plot of land in Hevron, commonly known as the Jewish Quarter. In August of that year, however, Arab residents massacred their Jewish neighbors, cruelly murdering 67 Jews in their homes. The survivors were hurriedly evacuated from the area, thus putting an end to the Jewish presence in the holy city for nearly four decades. The Jewish property, including houses and synagogues, was abandoned and left uninhabited.
In 1953, Jordanian troops assisted Hevron's Arab population in devastating the remains of the Jewish Quarter. The beautiful Avraham Avinu Synagogue was razed and turned into a goat sty, and apartment buildings were destroyed. Virtually nothing remained of the Quarter's earlier splendor, and the Jordanians built an outdoor food market on part of the land. The market continued to operate even after the Jews returned with the IDF's liberation of the city during the Six Day War in 1967.
Just over a decade ago, when Arab-initiated violence in Hevron was at one of its highs, the army decided to clear out the Arab store-owners in the marketplace. "The sole purpose for the closing," Wilder wrote at the time, "was to provide security for the Jews in Hevron, [which had been] jeopardized by the hundreds of Arabs who frequented the market every day." Then-IDF Chief of Staff Maj-Gen. Ehud Barak supported the decision.
Several years later, after 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass was shot to death by terrorists with a bullet to her head, Jews decided to renew their title to the land. They began renovating the stores, turning them into inhabitable apartments, and moving families in. Eleven families currently live there.
However, Arabs sued in Israel's Supreme Court against what they called the "infiltration" of the Jews to the stores in the Hevron market, and in fact, in 2003, the State committed itself to evict the Jews.
Hevron spokesman Noam Arnon said at the time, "The Supreme Court recently decided that the land should be given to the Arabs, even though it is clearly Jewish land that was robbed from us... The Court simply ignored the fact that this is Jewish land."