PM urged to enforce law on Hebron settlers by Amos Harel 2:32pm Sun Aug 11 '02 A report compiled recently by security officials and presented to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer calls on the two to act immediately to enforce the law on Jewish settlers in Hebron. The report's authors claim that the settlers are acting freely to "establish facts on the ground" in Hebron, without Israeli authorities acting decisively to stop them. The Hebron settlers were acting on the basis of a well-planned agenda, Israeli security officials told Ha'aretz. First, settler leaders "mark out" targets to be seized. Next, young Jewish activists use violence to remove Palestinian homeowners from their properties. Jewish youths then break into the Palestinian homes; though they might originally be removed by the IDF and policemen on the scene, the young people return to the homes, remove property owned by Palestinians and prepare them to be taken over by settlers. One Israeli security source contends that "an ongoing procedure of evicting Palestinians" is afoot in Hebron. Its aim is to "enlarge the Jewish territory," the source says. Jewish children and teenagers, the source says, are sent to initiate such "evictions," adding that the youngsters "start by cutting water pipes, tossing around goods or overturning market stalls; in the end, the Arab families flee." During the past year, the source claims, a few Jewish families took up residence in Palestinian stores located in a market that abuts the settler enclave. The market was closed after the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre perpetrated by Baruch Goldstein. "These homes have been turned into residences for young [Jewish] couples, even though they don't belong to them. They, of course, claim that the property belongs to Jews from 1929 [Arab riots in the city] - but try to prove that. Nobody dares to deal with these young people," the Israeli security source says. The source claims that the settlers are making no effort to conceal their objectives. They want to create new Jewish sections in areas such as Abu Sneinah, which are currently under Palestinian Authority control, and which overlook Hebron's Jewish enclave. The report submitted to Sharon and Ben-Eliezer details a long list of incidents in which settlers have managed to seize Palestinian assets, or destroy property, while intimidating Palestinian residents. For instance, in April 2001, during a week of unrest in Hebron that followed the murder of the Jewish infant, Shalhevet Pas, by Tanzim terrorists, Palestinian stores were set ablaze, and attacks perpetrated by settlers continued for some time after the baby girl was killed. The report claims that "the Jewish settlement [in Hebron] is acting consistently and systematically to consolidate and expand." The settlers prefer to act when they have government backing, but they will take steps in the absence of such official support, especially in areas in which Israeli authorities show weakness, the report indicates. It concludes: "The State of Israeli looks very bad when it comes to the rule of law in Hebron. Purposeful, clear law enforcement is needed. The current situation harms the state and serves the purposes of the other side [the Palestinians]." www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.j... add your comments Source file