Israeli army evicts dozens of Hebron settlers

Ultra-religious Jewish families had illegally squatted in barricaded apartments in city's market area

Tuesday August 7th, 2007

Today in Hebron, Israeli troops used sledgehammers to smash through welded doors and concrete bunkers to get at Jewish settlers who threw stones and poured oil and water on them. The settlers had claimed ownership of two houses. Dozens of settlers and soldiers were slightly injured in the melee.

Hundreds of thousands of other Israelis remain in illegal settlements in the West Bank. They were established after Israel began its occupation of the territory in 1967 following the Six Day War.

Hebron is home to about 150,000 Palestinian Muslims and Christians as well as 700 ultra-religious Israeli settlers who are often heavely armed. Prior to riots in 1929, there was a Jewish Quarter in biblical Hebron.

Twelve orthodox soldiers who had refused to take part in today's operation were earlier sentenced to 28 days in jail. The evictions came one day after the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas met for three hours in the West Bank town of Jericho.

In a deal with the Palestinian Authority, Israel agreed to evacuate 80 percent of Jewish settlers from Hebron in 1997. But Israel kept control of Hebron's market. It has been a closed military zone since 1994 when a Jewish extremist, Baruch Goldstein, shot and killed 29 Palestinians at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

APTN cameras recorded today's drama as it began just after sunrise and ended about three hours later.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• therealnews
• israel
• hebron

[WinkyMaeve]

man these people are crazy, they were offered hundreds of thousands of dollars, and houses in Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem, but they wanted to harass the Palestinians instead, NUTS!!

[ktincosmin]

take them out by their beard or by their sideburns!!!!!!

[blueboy921]

@WinkyMaeve

yeah they are crazy.

weird idiots.

but i like the "normal" israel very much

[wowamonn]

Religious zealots are always a pain in the ass. The secular Jews most be so pissed at these focking idiots.

[ere611]

THiS IS iSRAEL :D

A FACIST STATE :D

[gundamWWW]

The biggest problem to Israel is not Hamas or Hezzbullah,

it's the ultra religious settlers.

They are the real ones blocking the pace process.

[wanker2us]

boooooooooo...

[akburst510]

These settlers live off of Israeli tax money...defense, subsidized everything...AND they claim Palestinian homes. AND THEY FEEL ENTITLED TO MORE?!?! These rightwing settlers are scum, and they need to be removed from normal people and live on an Island where their idiosyncratic ways can flourish.

[WinkyMaeve]

@YaakovSarafian listen, I feel your pain, Israel is a big country with lots of occupied land, same as us, but we can't just start wars to take land back, Bahrain was a Persian province until 1900.

the international community, even america, will not let you, or us, take back land, even if it is our own land, by force.

and besides, there are lots of Arabized Jews in Hebron and Jenin and Nablus.

we have to deal with Saudis and bedouin.

[YaakovSarafian]

@WinkyMaeve ... Dear Persian friend... These fake Palestinians have no tie to the genuine historical Palestinian people who were originally from Creta and than started to live strictly in Gaza, and who disappeared in Babylone of Nabuchadanadzar... Nowadays "Palestinian" people are in fact Arabs brought to our lands by Saladine and the Turkish Ottoman Empire from Jordania and the Arabic Peninsule... This is pure History, and you can find it anywhere !!! Best regards to the Persian people...

[WinkyMaeve]

@YaakovSarafian yea man, I have respect for Jews, my family home in north Tehran is right next to a big synagogue and a kosher food place.

but you guys need to stop fighting, the Palestinians are not as bad as some of the Arabs we have to deal with

[YaakovSarafian]

@WinkyMaeve ... Are you Persian? I hope I can someday pay a visit to Persia, as soon as Ahmadinejad and those Ayatollas go out from the national power. For me, the Persians have a nice country, a rich culture, a sweet language, a great history. Every year, during our Jewish feast of PURIM, I remember your nation and our HADASSA (Queen Esther). The Persian King loved the Jews, and helped us coming back to our Jerusalem. I'm not angry neither a hateful man :)))