Teens vandalize Palestinian property in Hebron
Jewish youths smash windows, puncture tires, spray graffiti in Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron. Border Guard vehicle also damaged. Meanwhile, court rejects appeal to ban extreme rightist Noam Federman's entrance to West Bank
Some 40 Jewish youths entered a Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron Tuesday night, punctured car tires and smashed the windows in several houses.
The teens also sprayed a Magen David on the wall of one of the houses and caused damage to a Border Guard vehicle.
The police launched an investigation into the affair. None of the teens have been arrested so far.
Last week, right-wing activists rioted near the disputed house in Hebron, lightly wounding a soldier and desecrating Palestinian graves in the area.
The rioters also sprayed graffiti on the walls of a nearby mosque, including the words "Muhammad is a pig". According to security forces, last week's rioters were also teenagers.
Over the weekend, as thousands of Jews arrived in Hebron for the Chayei Sarah Torah reading, Jewish settlement Spokesman Noam Arnon insisted the troublesome teens were expelled from the area and guaranteed that great efforts were being made to stop the violence.
Court rules: Federman can stay in Hebron
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the injunction to close the Federman farm near the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba does not apply to Noam Federman and his family.
The court criticized the eviction process and said the State violated international treaties with the "disproportional and unreasonable" evacuation.
The ruling came after the State appealed the Jerusalem Magistrate Court's refusal to have Federman removed from the West Bank. Judge Moshe Drori rejected the appeal, and said it should not have been filed in the first place.
In the 42-page verdict, Judge Drori harshly criticized the State and the police, and wrote:
"There is no justification to prohibit the defendant (Federman) from living in the West Bank. It was not proven at all that there is any evidence in the case, and there are no grounds for arrest.
"Even if the State did prove the existence of the so-called evidence, the case still does not justify arrest".
Following the ruling, Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that his office would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
Aviad Glickman contributed to this report
