Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer on Friday ordered the Israel Defense
Forces to halt operations aimed at the eviction of Palestinians from land
around Mount Hebron. Ben-Eliezer said that only in cases where buildings
were defined as extremely problematic from a security point of view could
the IDF suggest eviction, which would then need to be authorized by
Ben-Eliezer himself.
Meanwhile, about 300 activists from Ta'ayush, a Jewish-Arab cooperation
group, and other Israeli peace organizations accompanied about 40 Mt Hebron
residents returning to land from which they had recently been evicted by the
IDF.
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The activists said that their presence was necessary to ensure that the IDF
did not again violate the temporary injunction from the High Court of
Justice ordering it not to evict the residents.
The activists, who came from all over Israel, accompanied the residents
from the village of Yatta in the south Mt Hebron area -- to which the
evicted residents had moved -- back to their lands. Together, they toured
places that had been destroyed and set up shaded areas to serve the
residents until they rebuild their tents.
The residents and the activists claim that the IDF is acting. in collusion
with the settlers who want the land to build new settlements. Some residents
were first evicted two months ago, arid, since then about 120 have been
evicted from. The area. The residents, who live in tents and caves and herd
sheep and goats, say that they have been on the land for years. Caves in
which they lived were destroyed, and wells were damaged.
The High Court injunction permitted their return, but on Rosh Hashanah, an
IDF force destroyed their tents and ordered them to move to Yatta. On
that.occasion as well, Ta'ayush activists went to protest the eviction, and
the resultant media attention and renewed petition to the High Court led to
the IDF saying that it was examining, the possibility that eviction was a
local initiative of a company commander.
On Yom Kippur, to the surprise of Palestinian residents, the IDF prevented
them from returning to their lands and declared the area a closed military
zone for a period of three months.
Ta'ayush activists said yesterday that that their presence in the area
deterred the IDF from using force against the residents. The residents'
attorney, Shlomo Lecker, plans to file a petition today to hold the
commanding officer of the IDF Central Command, Major General Yitzhak Eitan,
in contempt of court. He will also ask the court to enforce its ruling from
last Wednesday ordering the IDF not to evict the residents of the Mt.Hebron
area.
Military sources told Ha'aretz that the area had been declared a closed
military zone because of fears of clashes between residents and settlers.
They said that even though an order had been given to close the area for
three months, this was just a formality.