Yet another illegal settlement
Takeover of disputed Hebron home another illegal attempt to create new settlement
A reminder: The story of the disputed house in Hebron started in March 2007, after hundreds of settlers entered a large building being built alongside the road connecting the settlement of Kiryat Arba to Hebron's historical and religious center. We are talking about an area under complete Israeli control, even though the overwhelming majority of its population was and remains Palestinian.
One needs not be overly sophisticated in order to understand why the settlers eyed this specific house: It marks a vital site in their unhidden plan to create Jewish contiguity between Kiryat Arba and Hebron's city center. This contiguity would enable them to annex, in practice, this entire area to Kiryat Arba, while gradually expelling the Palestinian population that has been living there for generations.
Thus far, the plan formulated by the settlers, who on normal days enjoy the almost complete backing of the army, progressed quite well. The parts of Hebron controlled by Israel – that is, by the settlers – increasingly lost their Palestinian residents. There is no wonder then that the entry of settlers into the disputed house was undertaken as hundreds of soldiers and police officers secured the site.
Ever since that day, dozens of news stories dealt with the question of whether the settlers indeed purchased the building, and if they did, who did they buy it from and how. While the settlers made every effort to create the impression they legally acquired the home, suspicions grew that we are dealing with yet another case of forged purchase documents. Indeed, one of the companies who claimed to be involved in this transaction was involved in the forging of documents pertaining to another Hebron home, which the settlers were forced to evacuate a while ago.
However, this is not the main issue on the agenda. After all, there is no disputing the fact that regardless of whether the purchase took place – the transaction was not undertaken with the permission of the proper authorities, that is, the Defense Ministry. The notion behind the military law requiring the defense minister's permit for any real estate deal in the West Bank is simple: Israel cannot allow any person possessing tens of thousands of dollars in cash to determine the settlement map on behalf of the State.
After all, even the most anti-establishment settlers realize that without the State's generous support and the IDF's bayonets, the settlement enterprise would remain a notion that has no way of being realized.
The settlers who entered the disputed home about a year and a half ago knew well what they were doing. Whether they indeed purchased the house, or like in previous occasions preferred to save their money and make do with forging the acquisition documents, it is clear that they again attempted to force the Israeli public to accept the establishment of another settlement in the heart of Hebron. And in fact, why not do that? After all, this method worked in so many other sites.
And where is the government in all of this? The same government that was scared to enforce the law when the settlers transferred tables and mattresses to the building will very soon have to face thousands of angry settlers who are willing, a year and a half later, to swear that this building will determine the "divine salvation" process of the people of Israel.
Dror Etkes is Yesh Din's Land Project coordinator
