HEBRON, January 26, 2016 (WAFA) - The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee Monday evening warned that the Israeli government‘s support of the recent houses takeover by Israeli settlers in Hebron would fuel violence.
The committee said in a press release that the two homes that Israeli settlers took over during the last week have always been owned by Palestinians from Hebron throughout history. "They are not allowed to be used as a bargaining chip by Israeli coalition parties,” it said.
The Hebron committee held the Israeli government "fully responsible for the repercussions of its illegal decision to allow settlers into the two Palestinian buildings, a decision that was taken in contravention of international laws.
This decision would "fuel violence" in Hebron, which has become a "big prison" as a result of Israel‘s suffocating restrictions and closures that are intended to displace Palestinians from Hebron and obliterate its Palestinian identity .
Last Thursday as many as 80 Israeli settlers forcefully took over two Palestinian houses in the heart of Hebron‘s Old City, drawing the ire of Palestinians and triggering clashes.
According to the Committee‘s account, the settlers raided the two buildings, which belong to members of al-Za’tari and Qfeisha families. They damaged the external gates of the buildings and ascended to the roofs where they set up Israeli flags.
The committee slammed the action as a form of “aggression part of Israeli plan to Judaize the old city by taking over citizens‘ homes and expanding the settlements outposts, which Israel builds in the heart of the old city to connect these outposts with the settlement of Kiryat Arba‘, eastern Hebron, Ibrahimi Mosque area, al-Hisba settlement and the rest of the settlement outposts in al-Shuhada‘ street and Tel al-Rumeida.”
Israeli forces provided protection for the settlers as they took over the two houses and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his support, during Israeli cabinet‘s weekly session on Sunday, for the settlers who were filmed forcefully taking over the two Palestinian houses.
"The government supports the settlements, especially in days like these, when they are under terror attacks," Netanyahu declared at the weekly cabinet meeting, referring to heightened levels of violence in Hebron.
Netanyahu confirmed that the settlers would be allowed to move into the houses once the paperwork for their purported "secret purchase" was complete.
"As soon as the procedures concerning the purchase are approved, we will allow the two homes in Hebron to be populated, as indeed occurred in similar instances in the past," Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting.
"The process of checking is starting today. We will do it as quickly as possible. If, in any case, it is not completed within a week, I will see to it that the cabinet receives a status report," he added.
Over the last two decades, Jewish settlements have expanded in number rapidly across the West Bank and East Jerusalem and have severely constrained the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state.
The Israeli government provides more than 500,000 settlers with roads, electricity, water, and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.
While the international community has been vocal in its condemnation of Israeli settlement activity, it has taken few steps to pressure Israel into ceasing the enterprise.
K.F/M.H
