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Last update - 23:26 20/11/2008
Settler rabbi: The State of Israel is an enemy of the people
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel news, Hebron 

"The state of Israel has become the enemy of the people and the land of Israel," settler rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe said Tuesday during an emergency meeting on the state's plan to evacuate a house in Hebron whose ownership has been at the center of a bitter dispute for over a year.

The four-story building became a flash point for tensions when settlers moved in early last year after claiming to have purchased it from a Palestinian. But the Palestinian denies the claim and Israeli authorities have not recognized the sale as legal.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday said the settlers will be evacuated from the building, but that defense officials will sit down with them first to try to persuade them to leave voluntarily.
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The Supreme Court has given the settlers until noon Wednesday to leave the house. They say they aren't budging. The court says if the settlers do not leave willingly they will be evicted within 30 days.

The court ruled that the settlers must turn the house over to the state until a different court decides who the legal owner is.

"Anyone who tries to raise a hand at the peace house in Hebron will long for Amona, and will find that Amona was nothing," MK Aryeh Eldad of the National Union- National Religious Party said, referring to the violent riots during the 2005 disengagement when Israeli authorities evacuated the West Bank settlement outpost of Amona.

Some 1,000 Kiryat Arba residents attended the emergency meeting Tuesday, held at a local youth center, after the High Court on Sunday gave settlers three days to voluntarily vacate the house or force will be used to evacuate them.

Immediately following the meeting, participants accompanied four new families into what has been called by some the "house of contention."

Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, the head of the Nir yeshiva in Kiryat Arba, responded to rabbi Wolpe's remarks, saying "the state of Israel is not the enemy of the people of Israel. She belongs to us, to every last Jew. Stop this nonsense. We are fighting against those who want to enforce lies and perversions of justice, those who have disconnected themselves from Judaism and Zionism and the land of Israel, against those who have ceased to believe in the natural justice that Israel belongs to the Jewish people."

During the meeting, several attendants spoke out against the High Court. Orit Strock, one of the leaders of the Jewish settlement in Hebron, compared the High Court ruling to the laws of Sodom, saying "they bent everything that was bendable and completely ignored the fact that the seller of the house faces death threats, as if it is a given."

MK Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party) said that the court's ruling was political and biased, saying "we will be there, I will be there with my fellow MKs. We will protect this house the way any man protects his home. There is no need for violence, but if anyone hits us, we will protect ourselves."

The Israel Defense Forces were gearing up to forcibly evacuate the house on Tuesday, presuming its residents continue ignoring a court order to vacate the premises. The deadline expires at noon Wednesday.

Related articles:
  • Hebron settlers present court audio tape to settle ownership of disputed house
  • Hebron settlers assault Palestinians, activists harvesting olives
  • Israel to allow 700 additional armed PA troops into Hebron
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      1.   This vehement settler protest is reminiscent.... 00:09  |  Esther 19/11/08
      2.   The State is NOT the enemy 00:10  |  Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 19/11/08
      3.   peace house in Hebron indeed 00:17  |  newageblues 19/11/08
      4.   Rabbi #2 00:30  |  Esther 19/11/08
      5.   newageblues #3 00:33  |  Esther 19/11/08
      6.   the settlers are the real enemies of Israel 00:44  |  David K 19/11/08
      7.   Sedition by the Reb? 00:48  |  B Mezritch 19/11/08
      8.   Wrong....... 00:54  |  William 19/11/08
      9.   Such a big deal over a house 00:59  |  David G 19/11/08
      10.   A so called rabbi 01:00  |  Gregorio Rubinstein 19/11/08
      11.   Settler Rabbi Is Enemy To World Peace 01:05  |  Ed 19/11/08
      12.   Another slanted mistranslation 01:07  |  Yitzhak Sokoloff 19/11/08
      13.   On the same token every possetion is illegal 01:13  |  prove of sale 19/11/08
      14.   Possibly hypothetical, but .theoretically possible... 01:14  |  Esther 19/11/08
      15.   Rabbi Lazaros, Hamas and delusions 01:21  |  bronxite10 19/11/08
      16.   Esther - I know you`re not heartless 01:32  |  Allon 19/11/08
      17.   Create a binational state in Jordan 01:32  |  Great White North 19/11/08
      18.   Israel is a nation of laws 01:36  |  Bruce 19/11/08
      19.   not enemy of the people, only the observant jews 01:39  |  henry 19/11/08
      20.   The question of legal and illegal 01:44  |  Alex 19/11/08
      21.   State IS the enemy 01:49  |  Yerushalmi 19/11/08
      22.   the rabbi is correct. the state is the enamy now 01:52  |  Uncle Sam 19/11/08
      23.   This is such a terrible distortion... 02:34  |  Ussishkin 19/11/08
      24.   Inexcusable 02:42  |  Ilya 19/11/08
      25.   Question for Rabbi Wolpe 03:46  |  MichaelF 19/11/08
      26.   Hamas and Hezbollah are laughing at this 03:51  |  Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 19/11/08
      27.   May The 9 Years Old Jewish Kid Spirit From the Hills Spread 04:03  |  Joseph.E 19/11/08
      28.   Bruce, Israel *is* a theocracy... 04:04  |  BBSNews 19/11/08
      29.   Nip the right wing weed in the bud 04:52  |  Itzik 19/11/08
      30.   He always can go back to the streets of BROOKLYN USA 05:44  |  James 19/11/08
      31.   the rabbi is mistaken 06:56  |  rm 19/11/08
      32.   WOLPE IS NOT A "SETTLER RABBI" 07:01  |  Yishai Kohen 19/11/08
      33.   obvious solution 07:05  |  david 19/11/08
      34.   Yishai #32 08:23  |  Esther 19/11/08
      35.   Rabbi Wolpo 08:41  |  Choni Davidowitz 19/11/08
      36.   This Rabbi is absolutly correct , unfortunatly. 10:05  |  Jew 19/11/08
      37.   THE SOLUTION IS SO SIMPLE..... 10:34  |  Jay A Friedman 19/11/08
      38.   Allon re Esther and the `settler Rabbi` 11:20  |  x-ray 19/11/08
      39.   Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 11:29  |  lady from USA 19/11/08
      40.   The Declaration of Independence 11:52  |  lady from USA 19/11/08
      41.   Judaism has lost its identity ---Try Again 12:04  |  Israel is Doomed 19/11/08
      42.   to BBSnews 12:09  |  Eva 19/11/08
      43.   That`s the trouble, Yakov, they do. 12:13  |  Murray 19/11/08
      44.   Esther #34 12:36  |  Yishai Kohen 19/11/08
      45.   Fighting the settlers is a gross mistake ! 12:50  |  Akram Zekaria 19/11/08
      46.   The Rabbi 13:04  |  Dani 19/11/08
      47.   Go make your own state, then. 13:04  |  Tzfonit 19/11/08
      48.   Israel is Doomed....which are you sources??? 13:25  |  Terminator 19/11/08
      49.   Akram Zekaria #45 -in decrying `Two States` 13:41  |  Keith 19/11/08
      50.   to Tzfonit 13:43  |  Uncle Sam 19/11/08
      51.   the learned Rabbi 13:46  |  Steve a 19/11/08
      52.   Wolpe dosnt live in Israel 14:37  |  Dan Mey 19/11/08
      53.   the settlers are the enemy of the Israeli state 15:19  |  J. B. 19/11/08
      54.   Instead of evacuating the settlers here`s an alternative 15:23  |  Alicia 19/11/08
      55.   The Rabbi is right, sadly 15:24  |  Steven 19/11/08
      56.   Let them stay in Palestine 15:34  |  Ana 19/11/08
      57.   Keith 15:41  |  lady from USA 19/11/08
      58.   Terminator 15:50  |  lady from USA 19/11/08
      59.   A Memory 15:51  |  Frances 19/11/08
      60.   Ana 15:54  |  lady from USA 19/11/08
      61.   Frances 16:24  |  lady from USA 19/11/08
      62.   A courageous Rabbi 16:50  |  An Observer 19/11/08
      63.   the biggest enemy of Israel are its apathic citizens 16:52  |  Ernst 19/11/08
      64.   #63 ernst which army did you fight in ?? 17:18  |  victor hardman 19/11/08
      65.   lady from USA 17:24  |  Keith 19/11/08
      66.   Hey Frances. Give back stolen lands of the native Americans and 17:30  |  bat yam 19/11/08
      67.   the apathic Israeli is the biggest enemy 17:36  |  Ernst 19/11/08
      68.   Ernst 63 What about the Arabs? 17:43  |  Steven 19/11/08
      69.   Rule of law or rule of the court 18:52  |  Realist 19/11/08
      70.   Rule of Law 20:59  |  Sherlock Holmes 19/11/08
      71.   Why do we have courts? 21:02  |  Joseph 19/11/08
      72.   Common to extremists: putting their ideology above the law 22:35  |  Concerned citizen 19/11/08
      73.   It is so crucial that jewish Hebron has land contiguity! 22:41  |  Dr Eric 19/11/08
      74.   arabs live in haifa/ TA - jews must be alowed to live in hebron!! 22:43  |  Dr Eric 19/11/08
      75.   The settlers are sincere lovers of peace 22:44  |  Dr Eric 19/11/08
      76.   Imposing injustice... 22:45  |  Esther 19/11/08
      77.   Fear for Israel 23:14  |  John 19/11/08
      78.   #11 David K you are right 23:17  |  Janice 19/11/08
      79.   tTO ESTHER 23:19  |  gershom ben david 19/11/08
      80.   Dr #66,67 23:30  |  Esther 19/11/08
      81.   #67 DjEric: Your `lovers of peace` fear nothing more than PEACE 23:32  |  Realist 19/11/08
      82.   John #69 23:36  |  Esther 19/11/08
      83.   Dr. Eric 00:03  |  Dave Duncan 20/11/08
      84.   lady from US 00:35  |  Terminator 20/11/08
      85.   Israel enemy of peace..... 04:04  |  Solrac Naitsab Ocsal 20/11/08
      86.   Israel enemy of peace 04:07  |  Solrac Naitsab Ocsal 20/11/08
      87.   65# concerned citizen. In the case of Israel 05:30  |  Akram Zekaria 20/11/08
      88.   Solrac Naitsab Ocsal 07:33  |  x-ray 20/11/08
      89.   Obsessive hatred for the truth 07:50  |  Moshe 20/11/08
      90.   Olmert still rules the roost 09:35  |  Jim 20/11/08
      91.   #2 Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 09:59  |  Jim 20/11/08
      92.   #8 William 11:01  |  Jim 20/11/08
      93.   #32 Yishai Kohen 12:26  |  Jim 20/11/08
      94.   Yes, Dr. Eric 15:54  |  Murray 20/11/08
      95.   Re# and is also reminiscent of... 19:19  |  Ines 20/11/08
      96.   State of Israel enemy of the people 21:01  |  Maña Cohen 20/11/08
      97.   state of Israel is an enemy 21:06  |  Maña Cohen 20/11/08
      98.   Re ; 2 Bibi elected 21:25  |  Ines 20/11/08
      99.   I need no sources, Terminator, Last try 08:07  |  Israel is Doomed 21/11/08
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