Barak chooses dialogue
Photo: Ariel Hermoni
Barak to right-wing leaders: Avoid clashes over Hebron house
Defense minister meets settler representatives, asks them to refrain from clashing with security forces carrying out High Court order to evacuate disputed house in West Bank city; promises them IDF will protect house from Palestinian squatters
Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with representatives of right-wing groups and settlers last Thursday, in a meeting initiated by Knesset Member Uri Ariel (National Union-NRP), Ynet discovered Sunday evening.
Barak asked the settlers to refrain from clashing with security forces and, instead, to leave the disputed house in Hebron as per a recent Israel High Court of Justice decision. The ruling increased tensions in the city in recent days, as additional families moved into the house.
House in Hebron
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At the meeting, which lasted 40 minutes, settler representatives asked Barak to advance the issue of delaying the eviction of the house until a new government is established.
Nonetheless, MK Ariel said that the settlers are interested in seeing the issue resolved quickly, and hope that the current government will decide that the current Jewish residents of the home will not need to abandon it.
Another representative of the settlers said the focus of the meeting was to prevent needless conflict between the IDF and the settlers. "The eviction in Amona created unnecessary tension and great harm to the government," he said. "We must prevent use of force and occurrences that we have seen in the past."
Sources close to Barak stated that no mutual understandings were reached regarding the disputed house, but added that "no one is interested in this becoming a violent or problematic issue."
"It's important to continue the dialogue, but it's also important to remember that there is a court order and it is binding."
Meanwhile, incidents surrounding the disputed house continue. Sunday afternoon, Hebron police detained two youths suspected of throwing stones at Palestinians near the disputed residence, while Saturday night, three right-wing activists punctured the tires of a Border Guard patrol car in the area.
