Schlaglicht Israel Nr. 21/08 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen 25. November – 06. Dezember 2008 1. Hausräumung in Hebron Am 4. Dezember räumten Kräfte der israelischen Armee und Polizei ein Haus in der Stadt Hebron, in dem sich radikale Siedler verschanzt hatten. In einem Disput um das Gebäude – das von den Siedlern als„Friedenshaus“ bezeichnet wird – zwischen dem palästinensischen Besitzer und Siedlern, die behaupten es legal erworben zu haben, hatten Staat und Oberster Gerichtshof die Räumung beschlossen. In Erwartung der Evakuierung waren hunderte, hauptsächlich jugendliche Radikale in das Haus und die Umgebung geströmt, um die Räumung zu verhindern. Kurz nachdem Verteidigungsminister Barak sich mit Vertretern der Siedler getroffen hatte, wurde das Haus jedoch früher als erwartet innerhalb weniger Stunden geräumt und versiegelt. Junge Siedler randalierten daraufhin in der Umgebung, griffen Palästinenser an und beschädigten deren Eigentum. Die Armee erklärte Teile des südlichen Westjordanlandes zum geschlossenen Militärgebiet. In Hebron liegt eine der wichtigsten heiligen Stätten des Judentums, die Höhle der Patriarchen. In der Stadt leben einige hundert jüdische Siedler der radikal sten Strömung unter hunderttausenden Pa­lästinensern. It’s only one house “It is[…] important to remind ourselves that if the settlers are evicted[…], Hebron will continue to be a place that embodies the worst of Israel's occupation policies. Hebron will still be a place where Palestinians are prevented legally from walking on their own roads, a city with sections that have become virtual ghost towns as a consequence of Israeli policies.[…] None of this is to say that eviction of the settlers from the‘House of Peace’ is unimportant.[…] We must pressure our government to enforce the law and evacuate these illegal settlers. But when the day comes and thousands of soldiers and policemen arrive to do just that, we must keep in mind that nothing major is happening. Surely, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and fellow politicians will talk about the victory of democracy. They will boast about how the rule of law has prevailed yet again.[…] That is why we will remind them and ourselves that the occupation is only becoming more permanent. For every settler house that is demolished, dozens more are being built. We must remember that the Palestinians of Hebron will still be deprived of basic human rights, because they were born in a city where the lives of settlers are worth more than theirs. Finally, we must remember that as Israelis, we have a long struggle ahead of us, one that involves hundreds of‘houses of peace.’ We cannot call ourselves a society that upholds the values of human rights and democracy until we deal with these bigger issues, instead of focusing on just one house.” Michael Manekin, JPO 03.12.08 Standing up to Jewish terrorism “For a long time now, settlers in Hebron and other areas of Judea and Samaria(and East Jerusalem) have engaged in unruly behavior whose only goal is to violently threaten the Palestinians while undermining Israel`s sovereignty. By any official standard recognized worldwide, this is terrorism that sows fear and disrupts the proper management of a state.[…] Under the hypocritical umbrella of‘national unity’ and the self-righteous threat of‘a rift in the nation,’ the rampaging has become the norm, a daily routine. The settlers utter profanities, spit, beat, sow ruin and destruction, while the army turns a blind eye in the best-case scenario and takes part in the worst. The House of Contention is therefore the 1