Settlers sue state over Hebron evacuation damages

Chaim Levinson, Haaretz Correspondent

Hebron's Jewish settlement filed a lawsuit against the State of Israel on Friday over damages caused during the evacuation of disputed structures in the city's wholesale market. In the suit, the settlers rely on a 2006 agreement reached with the IDF regional command, stating that Jewish residents of the disputed structures would vacate them, while leaving any stationary property.

That agreement was subsequently annulled, leading to the 2007 evacuation, in which police removed doorposts and knocked down plaster walls in order to prevent the settlers from returning to the structures.
Advertisement

The lawsuit, filed by Doron Ben-Tzvi, stated that the settlers demanded NIS 214,000 to compensate for damages they claimed were caused during the evacuation.

"The plaintiffs completed their side of the agreement: the families which had lived in the compound up until the time of the agreement vacated their belongings from the property, and left only stationary belongings," the lawsuit stated.

"That property included walls, doors, windows, closets, bathrooms, toilets, as well as kitchens, and so on. These belongings were left at the premises in the expectation of a promised future use."

Also, the settlers stated that "80 years after the Hebron massacre steps need to be taken to ensure the return of stolen Jewish property to its rightful owners," adding that "events such as the ones which lead to the filing of this suit are unnecessary."

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said in response that the IDF had not yet seen the lawsuit, but added that "the evacuation of the wholesale market was conducted in accordance with an explicit ruling by the Supreme Court."

"Claims against IDF forces fulfilling their duty will not deter from continuing to enforce the law and from actions designed to defend the rule of law in the area of Judea and Samaria," the spokesperson said.

The suit came as the most recent episode in a series of attempts to reclaim the structures, which were built on Jewish-owned land that was inhabited by Jews until 1929, when Arabs massacred many members of the local community and the survivors fled.

Hebron settlers have also argued that aside from being on Jewish-owned land, the stores are an integral part of the Jewish Avraham Avinu neighborhood: They share common walls with the houses on the edge of the neighborhood, and the neighborhood's access road passes between them.

Between 1948 and 1967, when Jordan controlled Hebron, the stores were managed by the kingdom's custodian of enemy property. After Israel captured the territories in 1967, it upheld the leases that Palestinian shopkeepers had signed with the Jordanian body and gave them the status of protected tenants.

In 1994, following both Baruch Goldstein's massacre of Muslim worshipers at the Cave of the Patriarchs and a stabbing in the area, the IDF closed both the wholesale and triangle markets and forbade Palestinian merchants to enter.

In 2001, following the murder of infant Shalhevet Pas, squatters moved in, bringing two of the merchants who had rented the stores to ask Peace Now to approach the Civil Administration for an eviction order on their behalf.

In 2006 the settlers reached the said failed agreement with the IDF, which led to the 2007 forceful evacuation of the structures.