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Latest update: 16/07/2008
Hebron, city-symbol of Israeli settlers
Hebron, less than an hour from Jerusalem in the West Bank, is the city that best symbolizes Israeli settlement in Palestinian territory. To watch Lucas Menget and Karim Hakiki' s report, click on 'play video'.
Hebron, less than an hour from Jerusalem in the West Bank, is the city that best symbolizes Israeli settlement in Palestinian territory. The doubly-sacred Cave of the Patriarchs is here: for Jews, the cave is the cradle of religion; for Muslims, it’s the tomb of important prophets. Some Jewish settlers live around the Cave, in the heart of the old city of Hebron. That’s six hundred Jews, protected by 2,000 soldiers, in the middle of 170,000 Palestinians. An exclusive report by Lucas Menget and Karim Hakiki.
In general, journalists aren’t accepted in Hebron’s old city, which is full of symbols and hatred.
FRANCE 24 spent several days on Al Suhada Street, known for the longest curfew in the history of the West Bank. Since 2001, the street has been “sterilized,” meaning that all its stores have been shut down following a decision by the Israeli army. Worse yet, Palestinians are forbidden from being anywhere near the street. To protect the settlers, Palestinians don’t have the right to walk in front of certain Jewish homes. At the outset, the Israeli army had taken such steps so as to stop the infernal cycle of violence and reprisals between the settlers and the Palestinians. But what was supposed to be temporary became permanent. As a result Al Suhada Street, as well as the Casbah of Hebron, are deserted and devoid of all human activity.
Deserted Al Suhada street, Hebron
For the last several months, Israeli society has become more conscious of the scope of the damage. A group of former soldiers of Hebron have founded the organisation 'Breaking the Silence'. Their goal? To show, explain and denounce. To say loud and clear that military protection of settlers isn’t worth it, that the settlers are violent and force the army and the State of Israel to operate outside the law. Because Hebron is a lawless area, where soldiers regularly witness settlers breaking the law without having the right to intervene.
A soldier from Tsahal surveiling an empty street in Hebron
The police try to prevent ‘Breaking the Silence’ from entering the city. Arrests and deportations are frequent. FRANCE 24 was with the organisation’s founder when he was arrested and deported back into Israel from Hebron despite Israeli Supreme Court authorisation. Another NGO, B’tselem, has chosen to “arm” Palestinians with video cameras, allowing residents of Hebron to film the troubles they face.
Here is FRANCE 24’s investigation in the city that brings together many of the players in the Israeli-Palestinian drama.
To watch Lucas Menget and Karim Hakiki' s report, click on 'play video'.
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Comments (6)
Regarding your report from Hebron
I watched your TV reporting on the situation in Hebron with a combined sense of frustration and gratefulness. It was particularly disturbing to see Jewish settler children in the streets, taunting Palestinians who are forced to remain indoors in their own homes. At one point your report shows a mother of one of these children come up to the window of a home and call a Palestinian woman "Puta". I am grateful to France 24 for this report. The world is not aware of the growing numbers of Israelis that disagree with their goverment's policies and see the need for change. Perhaps you can follow up with a report from within Israel about these brave Israelis. I believe the world is tired of hearing about this issue and constantly hearing the history of the conflict, It is time that people on both sides set aside religious bigotry and sart treating eachother like human beings. We would all be better off and our children would see a safer world. As for that settler mother in Hebron, what a shame her anger and animosity is being transfered to her children. That is not the way to end this cycle of hatred.
The US government has to put pressure on Israel.
The unconditional support of the Bush administration for Israel policy toward the Palestinians make it almost impossible to get anywhere in the peace process. To be honest, the Clinton administration wasn't much better. I guess the power of the Jewish lobby in America is such that if you want to have a more balance policy , such as the approach of Jimmy Carter to talk to Hamas... you are label anti-semitic. It is a tough dilema unlikely to change with either McCain or Obama in the White House.
What about repeated Arab massacres of Jews in a Jewish holy city
Adrian quite properly brings up the 1929 massacre of 68 Jews in Hebron. The old Jewish synagogue in Hebron, Abraham Avinu, was made into a pen for an Arab's domestic animals, goats and sheep. When Jews could return to Hebron after the 6 Day War, they faced several more massacres, albeit smaller than the one in 1929 which British policy had encouraged and abetted. For 19 years, Jews could not come to the Tomb of the Hebrew Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca,Leah [Rachel's tomb is in Bethlehem]. For 700 years, from the Mamluk sultan Baybars to the 6 Day War, Jews could not enter the tomb of their own patriarchs and matriarchs [except Rachel], a structure built by Jews in the time of Herod. For 700 years Jews could only go up to t he 7th entry step. This was only part of the humiliation that Jews had to undergo in Hebron. The argument of Menget and "breaking silence" is outrageous. The Arabs are intolerant. If they weren't violently intolerant, then they wouldn't have the restrictions that they do in Hebron.
Tigibus' reaction is simplistic and unbalanced
Lands occupied from wars FAR longer than Palestinian territories that the UN should worry about first: Russia's occupation of The Japanese Kirile Islands, Poland's annexation of Vast German lands. Romania's occupation of the Hungarian Carpathians. Italy's Occupation of Austrian Tyrol and Venetia. USA's captured Mexican territories. Britain's occupation of Gibraltar. China's occupation of Tibet is more recent. Why ONLY single out Israel ?
Some angles not looked at in your interesting TV report
1) Hebron was one of 5 cities/towns where Jews lived constantly since Roman times, until a massacre of the Jews by local Arabs in 1929, which made the Jews leave as no protection was offered by British Mandatory Authorities
2) Hebron's Machpela cave is the tomb of Abraham, seen by both Jews and Arabs as the father of their nations
The desire of religious Jews to pray there freely is not unreasonable, just as muslims in Israel are free to pray at tombs of religious figures
Hebron
The time is far long overdue for the United Nations to oblige the Israelis to move back to the original state of Israel and vacate all the occupied Arab lands.