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How easy it is to hate them
By Nadav Shragai

For the State of Tel Aviv, Hebron is an Arab city where a few hundred Jews are living temporarily until a "final status agreement" is signed. For broad segments of the religious and ultra-Orthodox communities, Hebron is the City of the Patriarchs, where David established his kingdom even before the conquest of Jerusalem, a city in which Jewish settlement has existed since "then" and will continue to exist "forever."

Hebron is also a reflection of the line that divides Israeli society between secular Zionism, for which the land is first and foremost a national home and a country of refuge, and religious, faith-based Zionism, for which the land is the land of the Bible, the Promised Land and the land of our forefathers.

The Hebron of the Israeli media is also a land of black and white. How easy it is to hate the settlers, to portray them as absolute evil, as occupiers, as dispossessors and violent invaders. After hundreds of Palestinian suicide bombers, the Jewish community in Kiryat Arba grew its own first Jewish suicide terrorist: Baruch Goldstein. Then came "petty incidents" such as the "slut" curse, the comparison between leftist activists and neo-Nazis, or overturned stands in the market and even attacks on Arabs following Arab terrorist incidents. Add to that the fact that even externally the Jews of Hebron try hard not to look like the Israelis from Tel Aviv, and you have a recipe for total rejection of the Jewish settlement in Hebron by the enlightened Israeli.
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But the reality is far more complex, and for the most part just the opposite. Here are several facts that have not received wide coverage: The city of Hebron is about 18 square kilometers. Fifteen square kilometers were handed over to the Palestinian Authority in the Hebron agreement. This area is closed to Jews, although the agreement guaranteed Jews freedom of movement in the city. In most of the remaining area, which is ostensibly "Jewish" (H2), a Jewish presence was also forbidden, but most of it is open to Arab movement and presence. The Jews are today limited to 0.6 square kilometers, or 3 percent of Hebron, where thousands of Arabs continue to live. The PA operates various institutions in this area, with the declared purpose of "suffocating" the Jewish settlement.

As a result of the "Oslo War," which erupted in September 2000, and a series of attacks in which dozens of Jews were killed and wounded, the defense establishment limited Arab vehicular traffic in the "Jewish district." The area in which Arab traffic is completely banned, the area that has stirred the left's outcry, is limited to several hundred meters only.

While many of the Arabs of Hebron enjoy the natural and basic right to purchase and own real estate, this right has been almost totally denied to the Jewish population. The houses, the stores and the land left behind by the Jews of Hebron, who were expelled from the city after the 1929 riot, were confiscated after the Jordanian conquest in 1948 and were never returned. The Israeli government has become reconciled to this injustice. The Jews are generally denied the natural right to purchase homes and to enjoy the right of purchase. Palestinian law decrees a death sentence for an Arab who sells his house to a Jew, and the State of Israel has reconciled itself to these racist laws as well. In the course of about 20 years, building permits in the tiny Jewish district have been given to only three houses, so that those suffering from urban suffocation are not the Arabs, who are building high rises in the west of the city, but the Jews.

An Arab who harasses a Jew in Hebron - incidents documented in a detailed report - is not only a story that will not be broadcast, it will usually not be dealt with either. On the other hand, a Jew who throws stones and curses back is always a good story. But those Jews in Hebron, all of them - always all of them - disgust many Israelis, and therefore the context is unimportant. It makes no difference who started. The Jews of Hebron will always get the blame.
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  1.   Suggestions 10:30  |  Careful Reader 21/03/07
  2.   careful reporting 10:47  |  chava 21/03/07
  3.   check facts please 10:55  |  benjamin 21/03/07
  4.   zero suicide bombers before goldstein 10:59  |  ted 21/03/07
  5.   the jews in the west bank are marvellous 11:00  |  gadalyah 21/03/07
  6.   "Settlers" - such a nice propaganda word 11:02  |  Clickfool 21/03/07
  7.   Please, don`t put the blame on the settlers..... 11:25  |  Swiss (Dino) 21/03/07
  8.   The facts 11:45  |  Phil 21/03/07
  9.   willingness to live together 11:49  |  chava 21/03/07
  10.   The Facts 2 11:57  |  Phil 21/03/07
  11.   ...because they deserve to be hated 11:59  |  jethro 21/03/07
  12.   correction to Facts 2 12:13  |  Phil 21/03/07
  13.   The Israeli government has become reconciled to this injustice. 12:21  |  A Jew 21/03/07
  14.   The Jews of Hebron have to be vigilant to survive, let them stay 12:21  |  Pavel 21/03/07
  15.   a palestinian settlement in tel aviv 12:24  |  mehmet 21/03/07
  16.   The Arabs of hebron would kill The Jews so, Settlements are ok... 12:26  |  Pavel 21/03/07
  17.   why not just let them live in peace 12:29  |  Pavel 21/03/07
  18.   mehmet there is a Palestinian settlement in Tel Aviv 12:32  |  A Jew 21/03/07
  19.   Hebron settlers are criminals 12:34  |  Jens 21/03/07
  20.   Dino # 7 12:39  |  ChanahS 21/03/07
  21.   to Pavel 12:40  |  Phil 21/03/07
  22.   # 16 Pavel, the "exciting one"..... 12:41  |  Swiss (Dino) 21/03/07
  23.   Israel`s "settlers"- today`s "niggers" 12:43  |  Yacov 21/03/07
  24.   Mehmet # 15 12:46  |  ChanahS 21/03/07
  25.   These criminal kookians 12:48  |  MA 21/03/07
  26.   to 18, a jew 12:50  |  mehmet 21/03/07
  27.   Jens 19 = Historic reivisionist 12:50  |  Steven 21/03/07
  28.   Phil and equal rights 12:50  |  ChanahS 21/03/07
  29.   Settlers (Illegal) the missing word) 12:51  |  Labhras 21/03/07
  30.   Mehmet and buying land 12:55  |  ChanahS 21/03/07
  31.   Easy to hate 13:04  |  Baruch Nili 21/03/07
  32.   to Chanah 13:06  |  mehmet 21/03/07
  33.   chanah you are wrong 13:17  |  mehmet 21/03/07
  34.   mehmet 32 an honest question 13:24  |  Steven 21/03/07
  35.   mehmet = racist 13:26  |  Steven 21/03/07
  36.   # 20 Chanah S 13:27  |  Swiss (Dino) 21/03/07
  37.   #19 JENS IS DRINKING CARLSBERG AT THE TIVOLI AGAIN 13:27  |  paul harris 21/03/07
  38.   #37 And Jesus was born in Betlehem, and so what? 13:40  |  Jens 21/03/07
  39.   The problem with the Hebron settlers 13:57  |  John 21/03/07
  40.   Basic truths the Media ignores 14:06  |  Shalom Freedman 21/03/07
  41.   #38 and Jesus was a JEW,Jens 14:16  |  Hastaroth 21/03/07
  42.   TRUTH AND FACTS DETERRENT TO HATE AND LIES? 14:17  |  B 21/03/07
  43.   The Jews of Hebron Deserve the Blame 14:19  |  Yaakov Sullivan 21/03/07
  44.   john of the netherlands piss off 14:20  |  williamthesilent 21/03/07
  45.   #28 Chanah 14:21  |  Phil 21/03/07
  46.   Question for Jens in Copenhagen (Post No. 19) 14:21  |  Johnny Weintraub 21/03/07
  47.   Yacov (Post No. 23) 14:30  |  Johnny Weintraub 21/03/07
  48.   try to emulate chanah 14:35  |  mehmet 21/03/07
  49.   Freedman is not telling the truth 14:36  |  Hebronite 21/03/07
  50.   #30 Chanah S and Mehmet 14:58  |  Labhras 21/03/07
  51.   #46 Johnny Weintraub 15:05  |  Labhras 21/03/07
  52.   Where Did the Photo Go?? 15:13  |  Yaakov Sullivan 21/03/07
  53.   Article ignores that thousands of Palestinians were expelled too 15:25  |  Yariv 21/03/07
  54.   arabs can have temple mount but jews cant have holy site access?? 15:37  |  SHIMON 21/03/07
  55.   Yakov 15:37  |  Woodlawn 21/03/07
  56.   To 26 15:40  |  Watcher 21/03/07
  57.   The problem: Settler = State of Israel 15:56  |  Mark 21/03/07
  58.   Dino- "the reality of settlements" 16:02  |  B 21/03/07
  59.   How easy it is to remove them 16:20  |  Erik Svensson 21/03/07
  60.   Special order for Hebron 16:23  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 21/03/07
  61.   Baruch Nili on Hebron #31 16:33  |  Yaakov Sullivan 21/03/07
  62.   fair and balanced reporting 16:34  |  shulamit 21/03/07
  63.   53 Yariv & Peace 16:36  |  common sense 21/03/07
  64.   Mehmet # 32 I love it 17:01  |  ChanahS 21/03/07
  65.   N Shragai: contradiction on real estate transactions 17:16  |  zmogus 21/03/07
  66.   # 57 B The root of the problem 17:33  |  Swiss (Dino) 21/03/07
  67.   ChannahS 17:42  |  Danite 21/03/07
  68.   If we had final status agreement decades ago... Part 1 17:58  |  Smadar 21/03/07
  69.   Something to think about 18:01  |  Leah 21/03/07
  70.   ChannahS, Dino, Yaakov 18:06  |  tadchase 21/03/07
  71.   accuracy of facts is crucial 18:08  |  peace 21/03/07
  72.