Israel Matzav: Hevron eviction update

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Hevron eviction update

To really appreciate what is going on here, I would suggest using more than one source (and don't make them HaAretz and YNet, which are likely to parrot each other). I would suggest looking at Arutz Sheva's coverage for the revenants' side of the story, and any of the MSM English-language sites (I prefer the JPost because they tend to be less biased to the left) for the government's version.

As of now, there are several differences:

1. JPost says all three families were evicted; Arutz Sheva says one left voluntarily.

2. JPost says:

"13 soldiers and police were wounded, with seven of them hospitalized, in clashes with right-wing protestors who gathered in the West Bank town on Saturday night and early sunday to reinforce settler resistance to the planned evacuation of the three-story building. Six protestors were wounded in the clashes while five activists were arrested."

Arutz Sheva says:

"Several dozen youths still remain in the building, and the police have begun trying to take them out. The police claim that 14 policemen were injured by rocks and other thrown objects. They further claim that two Molotov cocktails were hurled from the building at the police, but that they did not catch fire. It was later reported that the exact contents of the bottles would be checked to see if they were in fact firebombs.

Rabbi Yisrael Shlissel, a resident of the building with his family of ten, paints a different picture. "The police on the roof threatened to break our heads," he said this morning. "And their claims that 13 policemen have been injured are simply lies. I can see from my window what is going on outside..."

Some of you may recall that the one 'police injury' at Amona turned out to be a hoax, with the policeman using the opportunity to harass injured protestors at the hospital.

3. JPost describes "severe resistance" overnight on Saturday night:

Meanwhile Dept. Cmdr Amir Cohen, head of Border Police in Hebron, said that forces encountered severe resistance overnight Saturday.
"There was a massive barrage of rocks and metal objects hurled at the forces, said Cohen. "Several Molotov cocktails were thrown from the house and burning tires were rolled out towards police, but all were extinguished without causing injuries," he added.

Arutz Sheva does not mention this. (By the way, Arutz Sheva has lots of pictures of the building here).

4. Arutz Sheva discusses the difficulty that the revenants' spokesman has had dealing with the government-owned Israel Radio (which is by far the largest radio station in the country - Arutz Sheva was shut down as a commercial radio station several years ago because they were becoming competitive with Israel Radio):

Speaking with Voice of Israel Radio this morning, he was in the midst of detailing the police violence when anchorman Aryeh Golan interrupted sarcastically and said, "OK, yes, thank you very much, let's now go to the news bulletin."

JPost does not mention this.

5. Arutz Sheva contains this ominous warning:

Ariel Melamed, one of those who were forcibly thrown out today, said, "I believe the entire Israeli public should be worried, because every Jewish purchase of property is now in danger of being nullified based on some imaginary claim or other."

I believe that is likely true of any purchase of property over the 'green line' from now on.