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Last update - 19:13 11/09/2007
Peace Now asks High Court to order immediate eviction of Hebron squatters
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Palestinian shops, Hebron 

Peace Now petitioned the High Court of Justice on Tuesday, demanding the immediate evacuation of Hebron settlers who illegally seized four Palestinian shops in the city's Al Hisbeh market.

The state issued eviction orders against the squatters in June, following a police complaint filed by Peace Now. The West Bank government property commissioner even ruled that "the shops are government property, in which the Palestinian renters have undeniable right of residency."

Peace Now urged the High Court of Justice to overrule a decision by the Military Appeals Board, whereby the settlers were allowed to stay in the shops until the end of the proceedings.
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The petitioners claim that the decision of the board was politically motivated and lacked a sound legal basis. They said that the settlers explicitly admitted that they had invaded the shops illegally, and could not provide any proof of ownership.

Al Hisbeh market was shut off by the Israel Defense Forces in 1997, as part of Israel's policy of separating between the settlers and the Palestinian residents of Hebron. Palestinian shop owners have since been denied access to their businesses.

In 2001, Palestinian shop owners, whose businesses border the Jewish Avraham Avinu neighborhood, filed a complaint against the settlers for trespassing in their shops, trashing them and stealing their merchandize.

In 2007 the shop owners submitted their ownership certificates and lease contracts to the army's Civil Administration, and demanded the eviction of the squatters. When the eviction orders were issued, the Jewish Council of Hebron appealed, claiming that the land on which the shops stand used to be Jewish property until 1948, which therefore makes them the rightful tenants.

Jews owned this plot of land, as well as the wholesale market, until the pogroms of 1929 which marked the end of the centuries-long Jewish community of Hebron. During the Jordanian rule of the West Bank, the four shops were administered by the Jordanian custodian. In 1967, upon Israel's capture of the West Bank, the Israeli custodian extended the Jordanian contracts and the Palestinian renters enjoyed state protection.

Peace Now claims in the petition that the settlers did not present legal justifications, only an ideological-political claim that they saw themselves as the successors of the former Jewish residents and should therefore be allowed to occupy the property. Peace Now insists that the settlers had used similar tactics to postpone their eviction from the wholesale market a few years ago, from which they were evicted only in August.

Peace Now claims that the Military Appeals Board has no legal jurisdiction and their decisions are not subject to judicial reviews. The movement claimed that the board rejected an overwhelming majority of Palestinian appeals, but were largely attuned to settlers' claims.

The petitioners claim that the decision to postpone the eviction is "a reward to offenders and compliance with the abuse of legal procedures," since it allows the squatters to stay as long as the proceedings are underway, "while any proof of ownership or legal justification is absent."

The Jewish Council of Hebron said in response that "time and again the extreme left-wing movement Peace Now joins hands with the enemies of Israel, in order to expel Jews from their land." It also said that "this plot of land is part of the looted Jewish property of 1929, and is indisputably Jewish."
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  1.   Facts 18:43  |  Jerome 11/09/07
  2.   Patriots vs Traitors 18:44  |  Brod 11/09/07
  3.   Chaim Ramon is the chief honcho of Peace Now,he also "negotiates" 18:55  |  Absolute Sweden 11/09/07
  4.   #1 Jerome - most reasonable folk abhor these `settlers` 19:27  |  Don Camillo 11/09/07
  5.   # 1 Irrelevant "Facts" 19:40  |  David 11/09/07
  6.   Killing Peace Now 19:41  |  BobUSA 11/09/07
  7.   peace now cares nothing for any jewish victims 19:47  |  issy hass 11/09/07
  8.   jerome 1 19:49  |  realism 11/09/07
  9.   Why have Jews have right to once owned land but Palestinians not 20:11  |  Petteri 11/09/07
  10.   peace now - funding 20:14  |  fish 11/09/07
  11.   Journalistic lesson #1929 for Haaretz news service... 20:21  |  bat yam 11/09/07
  12.   Patriots vs Traitors 20:21  |  Brod 11/09/07
  13.   answer to Brod 20:28  |  Michael 11/09/07
  14.   PN complaining about "political motives"? 20:32  |  david Teich 11/09/07
  15.   8: Surrealism still using the wrong name 20:33  |  David Teich 11/09/07
  16.   8: Surrealism still using the wrong name 20:37  |  David Teich 11/09/07
  17.   Jordanian National Property was Forfeit Upon Invasion in 1967. 20:41  |  Kalif 11/09/07
  18.   Peace Now and Kassams.... 20:57  |  Shalom 11/09/07
  19.   Why are they still there? 21:02  |  T 11/09/07
  20.   If these people were evicted in June... 21:11  |  Tzfonit 11/09/07
  21.   Who pays Peace Now 21:23  |  Mark Bernadiner 11/09/07
  22.   Peace Now is a refuge for anti-Semites 21:30  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 11/09/07
  23.   The farce call Shalom Achshav 21:44  |  Connie 11/09/07
  24.   Connie 22:11  |  leon 11/09/07
  25.   PEACE NOW = CIVIL WAR INSTIGATORS 22:11  |  THE LIBRARIAN 11/09/07
  26.   Peace Now is more properly Surrender Now 22:24  |  Chick 11/09/07
  27.   I love the inherent contradictions of the Israeli position 22:31  |  H50 11/09/07
  28.   Pull IDF out of Hebron 22:51  |  steve 11/09/07
  29.   Hebron - Rosh Hashanah 5768 22:54  |  Paul Usiskin 11/09/07
  30.   Recollection 23:01  |  Scharker Yid 11/09/07
  31.   haaret agenda to destroy Israel goes on... 23:31  |  trumpeldor 11/09/07
  32.   PN violates Art.13 "Human rights"signed by Govt. 23:31  |  sam 11/09/07
  33.   Fino-Nazi Petteri,Hebron is the town of Isak,Jacob,Leah 23:33  |  Absolute Sweden 11/09/07
  34.   Arabs built their markets on Jewish owned property 23:37  |  Erin 11/09/07
  35.   #16 "...once Arabs conquer something it`s theirs..." 23:38  |  hala 11/09/07
  36.   I love the settler`s logic 23:42  |  Ahmad Alanani 11/09/07
  37.   #16 David Teich 23:44  |  Boycott 11/09/07
  38.   to no 27 23:45  |  fish 11/09/07
  39.   #23 What is a farce/ 23:46  |  hala 11/09/07
  40.   Hala ,you just don`t know history.And don`t want to know it 00:22  |  Absolute Sweden 12/09/07
  41.   #40 Absolute Svensk, absolute avoidance of question 01:08  |  hala 12/09/07
  42.   Hala #35, muslims taken Hebron by force, by force they will loose 01:33  |  Johnny 12/09/07
  43.   #23 Connie from where???. 01:49  |  Labhras 12/09/07
  44.   david teich 16 02:04  |  realism 12/09/07
  45.   cipora 22 02:09  |  realism 12/09/07
  46.   scharker yid 30 02:16  |  realism 12/09/07
  47.   "Palestinian shop owners denied access to their business." 02:31  |  Maureen Ann 12/09/07
  48.   Labhras 03:05  |  Connie 12/09/07
  49.   #16 David Teich does so love to pontificate, doesn`t he.. 04:13  |  Johnboy 12/09/07
  50.   Hala`s History Class 101 04:15  |  Jake 12/09/07
  51.   Reply to Steve in Minnesotta (Post No. 28) 04:23  |  Johnny Weintraub 12/09/07
  52.   Hala: The Emperor Julian recognized the Jewish claim 04:35  |  Jake 12/09/07
  53.   Hevron 04:50  |  Yoav Naor 12/09/07
  54.   Hevron settlers 05:53  |  Pablo Garcia 12/09/07
  55.   hala 06:07  |  C onnie 12/09/07
  56.   Peace Now 06:12  |  Ronald Davenport, 12/09/07
  57.   boycott, a primer 13:44  |  david Teich 12/09/07
  58.   surrealism, read the primer for boycott 13:46  |  David Teich 12/09/07
  59.   #57 #58 David Teich dodges the issue with a wave of the hand 06:24  |  Johnboy 13/09/07
  60.   59: JB just waves reality 10:26  |  David Teich 13/09/07
  61.   The only ones enjoying state protection 11:01  |  John 13/09/07
  62.   to fish 11:08  |  John 13/09/07
  63.   #60 And Yet Another Airy Wave From The Teichster 07:31  |  Johnboy 14/09/07
  64.   #60 You have to get past this first hurdle David 07:41  |  Johnboy 14/09/07
  65.   Oooh, a rare response from JB, I`m all aquiver... 11:55  |  David Teich 15/09/07
  66.   #65 David Teich makes a virtue of necessity. 15:08  |  Johnboy 15/09/07
  67.   66: And JB makes a virtue of ignorance 17:53  |  David Teich 17/09/07
  68.   61: John has a weird definition of "enjoy" (2nd try) 17:54  |  David Teich 17/09/07
  69.   #67 David Teich tries the scattergun approach 01:45  |  Johnboy 18/09/07
  70.   JB again shows he thinks only facts 18:01  |  David Teich 19/09/07
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