AG requests settlers evacuate Hebron's Machpelah House
AG Mandelblit asks HCJ to order evacuation of the settlers who invaded the Macpelah House in Hebron about a month ago; Mandelblit grants invading settlers one more week 'to evacuate peacefully,' before secuirty forces evacuate them by force.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has petitioned the High Court of Justice for it to order the evacuation of the settlers who invaded the Macpelah House in Hebron about a month ago, barricading themselves inside the structure.
The State Attorney's Office has already stated that the settlers must vacate the property. Negotiations have been initiated, but so far the settlers have refused to move.
At the request of the defense establishment, Mandelblit granted the invading settlers one more week "to evacuate peacefully." If such a scenario does not come about, secuirty forces will then go in and evacuate them by force.
On July 25, some 20 families, made up of roughly 120 settlers, invaded the Machpela House in protest of what they claimed was a delay in examining the building's purchase documents. The invasion took place about two weeks after Ynet reported that the Civil Administration had determined that their documents for the building's purchase were not forged, thereby granting the settlers ownership of the house.
"The Machpela House was purchased a few years ago, but to the disgrace of the Israeli government, families were prevented from living in homes that have been purchased for more than five years, without any moral or legal justification," the settlers claimed. "In these days of Jewish bloodshed, bereavement and pain, we call upon the Israeli government to vigorously raise the banner of settlement and loyalty to the Land of Israel. In the face of Jewish bloodshed, we demand that the Israeli government allow the families to live in the Machpela House immediately."
The Machpela House in Hebron is a three-story building that members of the settler movement "Harhivi" (li. "to widen") claim to have purchased from previous Palestinian owners and have tried to populate since 2012. After many protests and the invasion of some 14 families, it was evacuated and declared a closed military zone by the IDF.
A year later, following a shooting attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to allow settlers to move into the Machpela House, but was met with a High Court of Justice ruling that claimed that all the necessary permits for allowing such a move have not been filed. Since then, the families have been fighting to be granted said permits and move in to the building.
