A Little House in Hebron

By

Mike Packer

I used to be a left wing liberal. I said it before and I'm saying it again with the emphasis on "used to be".

The Labor party that I used to be proud to be a member of (unfortunately, I still am but that is another story) has at last hit rock bottom. Although I am talking in generalities here by including everyone in the Labor party in the same rotten barrel as its chairperson. I have never felt as embarrassed by the fact that I had dealings with this party as I did the other evening when the "Peace House" was evacuated on the orders of the Defense Minister.

The prime mission of the Ministry of Defense is the defense of the population and the integrity of our state borders. It has been derelict in the first count, the defense of the population. Unless you mean the Arab population that basks in the protection of the Law in all its forms. The Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, has declared war on the Jewish population that identifies with the National Camp and with its supporters. According to certain polls in Israel about 53% of the Jewish population identifies with the National Camp or other affiliated religious parties and I have a feeling that this will show in the elections in February. I sincerely hope that Ehud Barak's actions over the last few days will be the final nail in the Labor party\left wing coffin. His chances of becoming Prime Minister have just taken a nose dive and he is taking the party with him.

The House in Hebron was bought by a Jew from an Arab for $700,000 cash. The transaction was documented and signed but the Arab seller has recently reneged on the deal after his life was threatened for selling Arab land to a Jew. I can understand his concern but, hey, take the money and run, find someplace else to live. The original owner appealed to higher authorities and said that the transaction wasn't finalised. The Ministry of Defense which is in charge of security in Judea and Samaria slapped an eviction order on the Jewish residents of the house. The residents appealed for a stay of eviction until the legality of the transaction was confirmed by a local court. The High Court of justice upheld the eviction notice but left it to the discretion of the MoD whether to act or not.

The Minister decided that it was time to show the settlers just how brave he and his Police cohorts were and in a surprise raid evicted men, women and children using unnecessary force on a docile group. Barak has alienated a huge group of rabid patriots for a few popularity points with the Palestinian Authority and the American administration. These patriots are becoming the backbone of the elite units in the IDF just as the kibbutz youth of 20 years ago they are considered by many in Israel as salt of the earth. A few of these youths were reenforcing the group that was living in the house in Hebron and some were blamed by the Jerusalem Post of throwing rocks at Arabs. The JP on Thursday on page 5 printed a picture of "Beit Hashalom" with the subtitle "Settlers throw stones at Palestinians following the evacuation of the disputed house".Nadia Matar, Co-chair, Women in Green and member of the Committee for the Struggle for Bet Hashalom, wrote a letter of protest to the Editor of JP:

To the Editor of the Jerusalem Post
letters@jpost.com

One does not have to look far to see how biased your newspaper is.

Page five of your Friday edition shows a picture of Bet Hashalom with the subtitle: "Settlers throw stones at Palestinians following the evacuation of the disputed house "
As someone who lived in Bet HaShalom for the entire week, I looked at the picture, recognized some of the people, and
immediately understood what the picture really was about: Four Jewish youth are playing dodge ball in front of Bet Hashalom minutes before the expulsion forces arrived with their tear gas, stun grenades, clubs, and other equipment to brutally and forcefully expel the Jews from Bet Hashalom.
Obviously using such force against youth playing ball does not look good. So why not change reality completely and write that those youth were 'throwing stones at Arabs'.

I will do all I can to find the names of all those appearing in that picture and convince them to sue the Jerusalem Post for libel and slander.Shame on you.

Nadia Matar
Co-chair, Women in Green and member of the Committee for the Struggle for Bet Hashalom .

Well, what can one expect from journalists.

The Ministry of Defense is in dereliction of its duty. Day after day it rains rockets in Sderot and the area surrounding the Gaza strip but the Government won't come to the residents assistance. Recently there were riots in Acre and there were more Jews arrested than Arab instigators. The Police and Ministry of Defense have found that it is easier to beat up and arrest Jews than it is Arabs because the Jews don't go on the rampage afterwards like the Arabs do.

Now this dereliction of duty has again raised its ugly head. Enough is enough. It is time to bury the Labor party once and for all and then the chairman will fade away into the infamy that he so richly deserves.