Palestinians harassed in Hebron ‘cage’

Yifat Alkoby, a Jewish settler from the Hebron settlement of Tel Rumeida, is seen assaulting and swearing at women and girls from the neighboring Abu-'Ayesha family, who were forced to build a metal cage around their home to protect themselves from the repeated and violent attacks by Jewish settlers.

YNet: On tape: Palestinians harassed in Hebron ‘cage’
Ali Waked, January 10th, 2007
Abu-Aisha and his extended family live in a two-storey house. “The cage you see in the video is where we live. Not once do we open the door and not hear curse words or get stones and eggs thrown at us,” he said. “The latest fashion during this cold winter – the settlers spray us with cold water using a big fire hose located near the house.”

Abu-Aisha said “hell” is not a strong enough word to describe what his family is going through.

Press coverage of Hebron settler violence
ISM, January 11th, 2007
Senior official in West Bank Police responds to video clip revealed in Ynet showing settler cursing Palestinian family. Settler summoned for police investigation, but doesn’t show. B’Tselem, of all groups, asks not to turn her into scapegoat.

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Implement which law?
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, Friday, 19 January 2007
It's easy to condemn the vulgarity of the settler from Hebron, and it's easy to dismiss the Jewish enclave there as a gang of violent thugs. But they are only weeds that sprout from the rotten ground of the cruel regime that prevails beyond the Green Line. It's a regime based on ethnic discrimination and separation, double standards and an absence of the rule of law.

Perfect timing
Amos Harel, Ha'aretz, January 16, 2007
The video tape showing settler Yifat Alkobi abusing her Palestinian neighbors in Hebron was aired at a perfect time from the perspective of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

It gave them the chance to compete with each other in their expressions of shock over Alkobi's behavior and to promise, like so many prime ministers and defense ministers before them, to take care of settler violence in Hebron.

The truth is that as repellent as Alkobi's actions were, they are a marginal matter compared to the long-term unruly behavior of the settlers, who have been gradually banishing the Palestinians from their homes in Hebron's Israeli-controlled H2 sector surrounding the city's Jewish homes, with state backing.

Condemnations, not steps

It's likely that this time, too, the matter will end with condemnations rather than concrete steps against the settlers involved.

Yesterday Peretz's deputy, Ephraim Sneh, visited Hebron and expressed the requisite shock. True change? Not now. The army isn't interested in clashing with the settlers, the police are cautious and the courts support them, for the most part.

Here's the story: Jewish construction is continuing in Hebron while the state looks in the other direction.

The Israel Defense Forces boast about the economic improvement in the lives of Palestinians residing in the Palestinian-controlled H1 sector, thereby distorting the sad truth: At this rate, Palestinians won't be living in the H2 sector for much longer.

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Nigel Parry's Hebron Diary

A closer look at Hebron's 'Jewish community'