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Children playing in the contested Hebron house earlier this year. (Tomer Appelbaum)
Last update - 12:30 26/12/2007
80 years on, massacre victims' kin reclaims Hebron house
By Nadav Shragai
Tags: Israel, Palestinians, Hebron 

Between stretching plastic sheets over the windows and placing buckets exactly under the leaks in the roof, settlers at a contested house between Kiryat Arba and Hebron are trying to maintain some sort of normal routine.

For humanitarian reasons, the Israel Defense Forces were willing to allow them to renovate the house so as to make it more livable. But Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided that the building will remain unchanged as long as it is occupied by the 20 settler families and their dozens of children.

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en months have passed since the settlers entered the three-story building, which covers an area of over 3,000 square meters. The $700,000 to buy the house came from people in New York who originally wished to remain anonymous. But they are nurturing a grudge against Israeli bureaucracy, and this week, they decided to speak out: The buyer's son, a religious Jewish businessman from New York who agreed to be identified only as B., spoke with Haaretz about his plans for the house and his motives for buying it.

"My paternal great-grandfather lived in Hebron before the riots and the deportation of 1929," said B., referring to the murder of 67 Jews that summer by Arabs incited by false rumors of Jewish-orchestrated massacres of Arab Jerusalemites. "Part of my mother's family also lived there. They experienced the horrors of the massacre and knew many of the victims."

The carnage, 19 years before the creation of the state, had a deep effect on the Jewish community. The survivors were forced to flee Hebron, and their property was seized by local Arabs and occupied until after the Six-Day War of 1967.

"My family survived, and were deported to Jerusalem," said B. He noted that his mother and father, both born in Syria, still visit Hebron regularly.

The idea of buying the building, known as Beit Hashalom ("house of peace"), came up five years ago, he said.

"We were presented with several options for buying houses in Hebron," he explained. "We could have bought a house in Tel Rumeida, in the Avraham Avinu area. But eventually we opted for Beit Hashalom, because it's a bridge between Hebron and Kiryat Arba - which could have a dramatic and welcome effect."

B. said he never dealt with the former Arab owners who sold the house. "We had people working for us to handle that for us," he said. "But I have pictures and video footage that prove everything is legitimate. The Israeli authorities also have the material. They know it's all kosher."

According to B., the video footage shows the former owner receiving the money for the building, counting it and signing the papers to transfer the property.

"If the documents are false, as some have tried to argue, then how come the settlers have been allowed to stay there for the past 10 months?" he asked.

He also complained about the state's insistence on calling the settlers' presence in Beit Hashalom illegal squatting, despite the fact that a police investigation into the affair found that they did not break into the building.

B. said that he and his father are "not particularly wealthy" and that they had to break into their savings to pay for the real estate. "We decided to invest in the future of the people of Israel, because that future is everyone's future: the future of my children and of everyone's children."

B. said he plans to make the top floor of the dilapidated building into a festivities hall that will serve the families living in the lower stories - which he hopes will one day be brought up to standard.

Related articles:
  • Hebron settlers filmed harassing city's Palestinian residents
  • AG: Settlers can petition court against Hebron house eviction
  • Dozens of settlers take over building in Hebron, claiming they bought it

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      1.   Well if it`s all legal (including by int. standards) then... 10:01  |  anti-racist 26/12/07
      2.   Hebron house 10:14  |  Justice Lover 26/12/07
      3.   fair enough 10:39  |  Ali 26/12/07
      4.   Did any Arab official appologize for that massacre? 10:42  |  MR 26/12/07
      5.   Philistine "Law": Capital Punishment For SELLING Property To Jews 10:52  |  Yishai Kohen 26/12/07
      6.   He`s lying. 11:08  |  mrmcghoo 26/12/07
      7.   anti-racist #1 -- what if.... 11:15  |  bbl 26/12/07
      8.   Settlers out ! 11:22  |  Fussion 26/12/07
      9.   Mr; B and His Family`s Property 11:33  |  Yaakov Sullivan 26/12/07
      10.   unknown initials from Oxford ME wherever that is 11:33  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 26/12/07
      11.   There are plenty of Palestinians that can make that claim 11:44  |  Natallie Durson 26/12/07
      12.   60 years after the creation 11:46  |  Kris 26/12/07
      13.   All This Talk of Death to Those Selling Land to Jews 11:52  |  Yaakov Sullivan 26/12/07
      14.   The question remains if his claim 11:59  |  Kris 26/12/07
      15.   Desedent of 1929 massacre... 12:12  |  khader herzallah 26/12/07
      16.   Oh Haaretz 12:18  |  bytheway 26/12/07
      17.   Hebron was and is a Jewish city, and no lefties or crazed 12:27  |  Sal 26/12/07
      18.   Giveaway phrase 13:30  |  Murray 26/12/07
      19.   Well the Jews should give back Palestine 13:34  |  Marilyn 26/12/07
      20.   anti racist-- a question that shows how stupid this is 14:00  |  Burned Liberal 26/12/07
      21.   #9 Mr. Yaakov missed the point ! 14:07  |  Alberto Cohen 26/12/07
      22.   Burned Liberal 14:35  |  David Kass 26/12/07
      23.   # 14 I do fear you missed the point 14:44  |  Kris 26/12/07
      24.   Jews think of themselves above the law 14:47  |  American 26/12/07
      25.   Marilyn 14:48  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 26/12/07
      26.   #24 Perhaps This Is What Is Meant By... 15:18  |  Yaakov Sullivan 26/12/07
      27.   #11, Natallie Durson... 16:21  |  Silvienne 26/12/07
      28.   A revelation 16:27  |  Joshua 26/12/07
      29.   Natalie Durson - 1929 led to today`s problems 16:35  |  Avrum 26/12/07
      30.   Sullivan and his anti "jewish" states #36 16:45  |  SHIMON 26/12/07
      31.   Jewish citizens of Palestine 16:56  |  jack 26/12/07
      32.   Difference Between Mr. B and Jackoff Sullivan 16:56  |  Tex 26/12/07
      33.   Silvienne, why do Arab countries/Iran have to interfere in Israel 16:56  |  Genuine Tosefta 26/12/07
      34.   Murray: Giveaway Dumbass 17:01  |  Tex 26/12/07
      35.   #30 SHIMON 17:05  |  tbora 26/12/07
      36.   Dont excpect much from racists like sullivan.... 17:07  |  SHIMON 26/12/07
      37.   Silvienne: Maintaining Palestinian Victimhood 17:10  |  Tex 26/12/07
      38.   Not all settlers are crazy. 17:13  |  jack 26/12/07
      39.   Morons For Zion 17:15  |  J. Abramoff 26/12/07
      40.   tbora - please, read a book (part 1) 17:17  |  SHIMON 26/12/07
      41.   Tbora: Pakistan is Fake 17:18  |  UR Nuts 26/12/07
      42.   tbora - please, read a book (part 2) 17:19  |  SHIMON 26/12/07
      43.   to David Kass & all interested 17:19  |  Burned Liberal 26/12/07
      44.   SHIMON and the misuse of language 17:19  |  Yaakov Sullivan 26/12/07
      45.   I will reclaim my family land one day too 17:21  |  Never give up/in 26/12/07
      46.   Mr. B did not "get" the house, he BOUGHT it 17:25  |  Boris 26/12/07
      47.   Mr. B did not "get" the house, he BOUGHT it 17:25  |  Boris 26/12/07
      48.   really, sullivan?!? Go back and read it yourself!! 17:35  |  SHIMON 26/12/07
      49.   Jews Use Money. Arabs Horde It. 17:35  |  UR Nuts 26/12/07
      50.   SHIMON, slander is slander 17:54  |  Yaakov Sullivan 26/12/07
      51.   Answer for bbl 17:54  |  anti-racist 26/12/07
      52.   marilyn # 19,exactly where is palestine?all through time,there 18:00  |  terrornator 26/12/07
      53.   Answer for Burned Liberal 18:07  |  anti-racist 26/12/07
      54.   Yaakov-Yaakov - VaYomer 18:15  |  Dr David I. Gross 26/12/07
      55.   Sullivan, you know what is funny?!?! 18:24  |  SHIMON 26/12/07
      56.   thank you to anti-racist 18:36  |  Burned Liberal 26/12/07
      57.   Yaakov Sullivan 18:36  |  Albert Seligman 26/12/07
      58.   Burned Liberal 18:38  |  David Kass 26/12/07
      59.   The title implies B`s relatives owned that house, while... 18:38  |  zmogus 26/12/07
      60.   #5, Yishai Kohen. You`ve repeatedly said your "law" is Torah only 19:06  |  zmogus 26/12/07
      61.   re: Never give up/in 19:19  |  Efox 26/12/07
      62.   re: Kris 19:23  |  Efox 26/12/07
      63.   re: jack 19:25  |  Efox 26/12/07
      64.   re: David Kass 19:28  |  Efox 26/12/07
      65.   re: Joshua 19:32  |  Efox 26/12/07
      66.   #37, Tex... 19:37  |  Silvienne 26/12/07
      67.   re: khader herzallah 19:38  |  Efox 26/12/07
      68.   #33, Genuine Tosefta... 19:41  |  Silvienne 26/12/07
      69.   A place to be buried in(Hebron) vs. a place to live in(Jerusalem) 19:41  |  Tosefta 26/12/07
      70.   for David Kass & all interested 19:42  |  Burned Liberal