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Hebron settlement / Born in sin, living in sin
By Yossi Sarid

There is nothing new under the Hebron sun - what has been will be again. Forty years ago, Moshe Levinger took advantage of the government's weakness and blindness, and of the rivalries and intrigues of its ministers. Now Levinger has successors.

The 1967 settlements were established through chicanery, and it is through trickery that they continue to be founded in 2007. To this day, we are forced to swallow the rotten meat they serve at The Settlers' Restaurant.

Haaretz's editorial at the beginning of the week focused on the building known as "the house of dispute."

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"It's not a house," the editorial stated, "it's a settlement." It lies on 3,500 square meters and already more than 30 families and 14 singles are inhabiting it - and that is not the end of it.

Now the agents provocateur are citing the law - "the house was bought legally." After all, haven't they always been known for their blind obedience to the law; did they not always march in the darkness with a relevant clause lighting their way? They carefully paid the Palestinians 400 silver shekels, just as our father Abraham paid Efron the Hittite for the Machpela Cave. However, in Kiryat Arba (Hebron), Abraham wished to bury the dead and be buried. These, on the other hand, want only to expel and to rule.

The Jewish settlement in Hebron was born in sin and lives in sin, and the whole enterprise is nothing but a farce. How Abraham's bastards laugh! Laws in a land that isn't yours are meaningless. Their sole purpose is to transform what isn't yours into yours. The essence of occupation is patently illegal. Only its transience makes it acceptable. But for the settlers, "temporary" means "for eternity."

So all of the serious hair-splitting debates into the legal issues make us laugh. But the story of the so-called kosher bone in the throat of the large Arab city will end in tears.

There is no such thing as a kosher deal under occupation. Every purchase and every sale has the stench of foul play sanitized by a law book. Sodom also had a nice book of laws. Clearly, there is no purchase without a sale, and there is no seller free of pressure, threats, trickery or irresistible temptation. There is no free market, nor could one exist. Injustice and greed stand in place of supply and demand.

Therefore the most kosher deal is the one that stinks the most. It should not be examined by legal experts but by odor experts.

The defense minister has no chance of evacuating the house soon. He is weak and exhausted, battered and pecked. His roar is a mouse's squeak. The interior minister was interviewed on the radio yesterday, and it was clear that another Efron-Bar-On-Hebron conspiracy was being concocted, with a devious prime minister once again calling the shots behind the scenes.

All we can do then is quote to those hard-hearted Jews the prophet Isaiah's reproach: Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! (Isaiah, 5:8).

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  1.   Jews Lived In Hebron From Time Immemorial 11:57  |  Yishai Kohen 12/04/07
  2.   The man whose hands are drenched with the blood of thousands of 12:16  |  Leo 12/04/07
  3.   Sarid would be ideal Cherniakov 12:25  |  Absolute Sweden 12/04/07
  4.   professionalism 12:37  |  m 12/04/07
  5.   the only road to peace 12:44  |  ILFESSO 12/04/07
  6.   Jews in Chevron 12:51  |  MSF 12/04/07
  7.   Hebron - Indeed a dangerous farce 14:14  |  Daniel 12/04/07
  8.   Sarid is offensive and wrong 14:20  |  Sue 12/04/07
  9.   Long Live the Jews Of Chevron 14:25  |  Mandy 12/04/07
  10.   This is journalistic writing? 14:26  |  Henry 12/04/07
  11.   Yishai`s broken record refrain 14:59  |  Marilyn 12/04/07
  12.   Couldn`t be written with more hate and venom by Hitler himself! 15:31  |  Allon 12/04/07
  13.   Living with hatred 15:50  |  PB 12/04/07
  14.   Yossi vs.Settlers 15:51  |  Ayelet Chen 12/04/07
  15.   Ayelet - very diplomatic 16:09  |  Not Ayelet 12/04/07
  16.   sarid 16:15  |  vladimir 12/04/07
  17.   Sin? 16:18  |  B 12/04/07
  18.   Maror Yossi Sarid 16:30  |  Ilan 12/04/07
  19.   sarid 16:34  |  nosson tzvi 12/04/07
  20.   Settler-terrorists 16:47  |  Mitch Cohen 12/04/07
  21.   Antisemitism ?? 17:33  |  Daniel 12/04/07
  22.   "Born in sin, living in sin." 17:39  |  curious 12/04/07
  23.   Jews were in Hebron when Sarid`s ancestors were in Germany 17:41  |  Jake 12/04/07
  24.   Marliyn 17:49  |  Leo 12/04/07
  25.   Some would claim Sarid`s home is occupied Lebanese `Hunin` 17:54  |  Jake 12/04/07
  26.   Ayelet, Sarid represents nothing growing except his ego 18:00  |  Jake 12/04/07
  27.   So, Sarid is admitting the house in Hebron was legally bought. 18:04  |  Jake 12/04/07
  28.   if Jews leave the Tombs will be destroyed 18:10  |  Consorts 12/04/07
  29.   After reluctantly acknowledging that the settlers had actually 18:14  |  Jay 12/04/07
  30.   And I would have that the expulsion of 750 Jews from 18:20  |  Jay 12/04/07
  31.   It`s a Legal purchase? That means the Pals owned it 18:41  |  SD 12/04/07
  32.   Please Answer One Question Mr Sarid 18:46  |  zaq 12/04/07
  33.   Hebron dispute 18:59  |  eli berkovitz 12/04/07
  34.   14Ayelet and her ilk. Don`t worry... 19:12  |  bat yam 12/04/07
  35.   No. 31 19:42  |  Mitch Cohen 12/04/07
  36.   jews lived in Hebron what about palestinians? 19:51  |  arab 12/04/07
  37.   Mitch Cohen- When Will You Give New City Back To Native Americans 20:13  |  Yishai Kohen 12/04/07
  38.   arabs ARE A 5th COLUMN & SHOULD BE SENT OUT 20:29  |  MOSHE 12/04/07
  39.   SD, QED? 20:33  |  Jake 12/04/07
  40.   Mitch Cohen, what excellent point? 20:39  |  Jake 12/04/07
  41.   Aticle born in sin lives in sin;repent & return 2 our God 20:40  |  sam 12/04/07
  42.   Haaretz fails again to sensor nasty Arab posts, like #36 20:41  |  Jake 12/04/07
  43.   Sarid Should Look in the Mirror For The Guilty Party 20:55  |  Ben Israel 12/04/07
  44.   Sarid is hypocrite 22:07  |  eliezer 12/04/07
  45.   3Absolute. Excellent point! 22:26  |  bat yam 12/04/07
  46.   Poor Yossi Sarid... 22:37  |  Wendy 12/04/07
  47.   tel aviv smells worse lets give that back 00:32  |  sin city 13/04/07
  48.   Racists 00:35  |  Daniel 13/04/07
  49.   Soweto 02:00  |  sabbatai zevi 13/04/07
  50.   Arab #36 jews lived in Hebron what about palestinians? 02:39  |  Leo 13/04/07
  51.   Israel a racist state 11:57  |  philippe Ellio 25/04/07
  52.   Number 36 02:51  |  Birthquake 21/07/07
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