The High Court of Justice on Friday is expected to discuss the State's demands that the evacuation of settlers who invaded a house in Hebron be postponed till Sunday instead of Friday to keep the sanctity of the Shabbat.
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| Settlers ordered to leave Hebron house / Tal Rosner |
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High Court rules: Three Jewish families must evacuate themselves willingly by 11 a.m. Friday, after which they will be removed by IDF; 'evacuation may inflame situation, lead to clashes,' settlers' representative says during court hearing |
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The High Court on Thursday gave three settler families until 11 a.m. Friday morning to evacuate houses they had occupied in the Arab section of the city. Security officials said that on Friday evacuation forces will be limited in time as Shabbat starts Friday afternoon.
A month ago, the families entered an abandoned Palestinian house claiming they had bought the property. A police investigation revealed that ownership documents presented by the families are counterfeit. Settlers petitioned the High Court against the State's decision to evict them. The petition was turned down.
Hebron house (Photo: Reuters)
In Hebron, settlers are split between those opposed to confrontation with security forces and those advocating such plan.
Security forces had 100 soldiers and policemen ready to evacuate the squatters Thursday evening, but the court set 11 a.m. Friday as a deadline for settlers to evacuate voluntarily.
Police said they requested the evacuation be postponed to Sunday not just because of Shabbat but also because police forces will be overstretched Friday with hundreds of Muslims heading for Friday prayers.
Officials said they do not expect settlers to confront soldiers and policemen, but insisted troops are prepared for every scenario.
Settler: Court acting in racist way
Noam Arnon, spokesperson of the Jewish settlement in Hebron, responded to the decision: "The State Prosecutor's Office says Hebron settlements will bring public unrest. That's a racist and irritating explanation; in the past they sent Jews to ghettos. That's an act of terror which we need to think how to react to."
And how will the settlers behave during the evacuation?
"I don't know if we will be able to calm the situation. People not under our control are getting here. We are trying to be in control, but this is not always possible, I don't know what the results will be," he said.
"Feelings are bad towards the clearly racist and anti-Jewish attitude of the legal system. As when the attorney-general cancelled all agreements on the Hebron market. The wholesale market is historic Jewish land. Now we rented a house and the whole system has been recruited to evict us," Arnon added.
He went on to say that "police officers said clearly during court hearings that they looked for reasons to evict us, and the High Court itself in opposition to past cases ruled that all should be evacuated. That's an unprecedented attitude only because we are Jews. That's new Israeli anti-Semitism."
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