More than 100 hardline Jewish settlers occupy house in Hebron

About 120 hardline Jewish settlers have occupied a house in the old city of Hebron, citing Israel’s handling of the crisis over the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem that has sparked days of violence.

کد خبر: ۷۱۵۸۸۳

تاریخ: ۰۴ مرداد ۱۳۹۶ - ۱۴:۱۴

The settlers broke into the building, which is located close to a religious site in the southern West Bank city – the Ibrahimi mosque and Tomb of the Patriarchs – a location that rivals the Jerusalem holy site for sensitivity.

The move came as Muslim leaders called on Palestinians in Jerusalem to continue days of prayer and protests in the streets over controversial new Israeli security measures around the compound housing al-Aqsa mosque.

Ikrema Sabri said a lawyer for the waqf – the Jordanian religious institution that runs the Jerusalem compound – would meet Israelis on Wednesday to demand the removal of the remaining additional security measures at the site, including metal railings and an iron bridge with cameras on it.

The occupation of the building in Hebron may complicate issues amid reports in the Israeli media that the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had asked security forces to hold off clearing it.

The building, which has been at the centre of a long-running legal dispute with settlers claiming they own its legal title, was quickly surrounded by a large force of Israeli police and soldiers.

Justifying the move, the settlers’ spokesman, Shlomo Levinger, said the decision to occupy the structure was made following the Israeli government "zig-zagging” over the issue of violence surrounding the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount complex, where the coalition led by Netanyahu had ordered the removal of metal detectors earlier in the day, prompting protests from the Israeli far right.

Palestinian residents said settlers had raised an Israeli flag on the roof of the building they had occupied, known to Israelis as Beit HaMachpela – the house of the patriarchs.

Israeli settlers were evicted from the same building after occupying it in 2012, as they had not obtained the necessary permits to purchase it in a city where there is constant friction between Hebron’s 200,000 Palestinian residents and several hundred Israeli settlers who live in the heart of the city under heavy military guard.

The anti-settlement Israeli NGO, Peace Now, called on authorities to evacuate the settlers, saying 15 families had entered the building. "After their claims of ownership had been denied, the settlers have decided to take the law into their own hands and establish an illegal settlement that might ignite the region,” Peace Now said in a statement.

The occupation of the building, in the midst of the crisis over security measures at the Jerusalem holy site, follows a familiar pattern of Jewish settlers and the far-right parties that support them using high-profile political events to demand concessions that favour their agenda.

Explicitly linking the crisis in Jerusalem to the legal battle over the building, the settlers issued a statement "calling on the government to boldly raise the banner of settlement and loyalty to the land of Israel. In the face of the murder of Jews, in the face of national stammering, we demand that the Israeli government enable the families to live in Beit HaMachpela immediately.”

The move by the Hebron settlers adds to an increasingly confrontational atmosphere between Israelis and Palestinians around the most flashpoint sites, which showed no signs of abating yet.

Israel installed the detectors at entry points to the compound in Jerusalem after two police guards were fatally shot on 14 July, setting off the bloodiest clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in years.