Weiss - 'We'll see how it goes'
Photo: Ido Erez
Border Guard task force to secure area
Photo: Guy Assayag
'Hebron struggle is justified, we won't restrain our youths'
Settler leader Daniela Weiss refuses to denounce violence surrounding disputed house, claims tensions would abate if state accepts Jewish ownership of property. Until then, she says, 'We're not Christians, we won't turn the other cheek.' As of tonight Border Guard troops will deploy in the area as part of recalibrated effort to curtail riots
Tensions at the epicenter of the Jewish-Arab conflict in Hebron further intensified on Tuesday as dozens were wounded in the progressively violent clashes. A 15-year-old Jewish youth was struck in the head with a large rock and is currently hospitalized in stable but serious condition at Hadassah Ein Kerem in
Boiling Point?
Efrat Weiss
Settlers say nearly a thousand activists have flocked to disputed house in bid to prevent eviction; 11 rightists arrested for allegedly attacking Border Guard officer
Jerusalem.
But despite defense officials' increasingly vocal criticism of the settler leadership for the free reign given to the rioting youths – one of its most prominent figures told Ynet there would be no attempt to subdue the teenagers in Hebron.
"Our struggle is absolutely legitimate, and so I'm not trying to control the youths," said Daniela Weiss, former mayor of the Kedumim settlement.
As evening fell the calm was restored to the area of the disputed house, which from here on forward will be secured by a special Border Guard task force instead of IDF soldiers. The neighboring Palestinian neighborhoods have been declared a closed military zone.
Settler youths in Hebron on Tuesday (Photo: Reuters)
In the afternoon various figures within the Jewish community in Hebron tried to reach out to the hundreds of youths convened at the house and tried to abate the tensions.
The teens arrived in Hebron in anticipation of the impending eviction of the property, in accordance with the ruling of the High Court of Justice. Earlier in the day settlers also staged a riot at the Tapuach Junction in the northern West Bank in protest of the state's intention to evict the house. Two right-wing activists were detained for questioning.
But Weiss is noncommittal, saying "we'll go out on patrols tonight, and see how it goes. I'm not trying to control and neither is anyone else." She has been staying in the disputed house for three weeks now, and two months ago was accused of assaulting a policeman.
"The government's conduct here is insane, and so has the response of the guys standing opposite," she said.
A senior IDF officer belonging to the army's Central Command spoke with Ynet on Tuesday evening following the violent day in Hebron and said: "The events in Hebron are riots, plain and simple. The damage caused to the Muslim graveyard, and the graffiti on the walls of mosques throughout Judea and Samaria – they shame and disgrace us as Jews."
Amona II?
Weiss chose to focus primarily on the Palestinian violence, and the wounding of the Jewish teen. "The Arabs who live on the west side haven't lifted a rock against Jews in the year and nine months they (the latter) have been living in the house of peace. Today they started hurling rocks and the boys responded. We're not Christians, we don't turn the other cheek," she said."What happened was astounding. The Arabs threw piles of rocks and objects from the roofs. The Border Guard units went up to their roofs and found boxes of stones ready to be thrown at us."
Weiss said Defense Minister Ehud Barak would be wrong to order the eviction of the house. "I think the minister of defense should make the decision to allow us to stay in light of the evidence and the fact that the house was purchased legally and everything was documented. That's all that is required for the residents here to go back to living peacefully. This whole issue of the house of peace is a political issue – they don't want to allow Jews to live outside the ghetto."
And what if the order to forcibly evict the house is acted upon? In that eventuality, warns Weiss, "what it won't be is easy. The youngsters are preparing for a very difficult confrontation. You could compare it to Amona, but it would be that and quite a bit more."
