MK Schneller: Cabinet approved settlers' stay in Hebron market
Kadima MK says cabinet figures, GOC Central Command Naveh had approved deal that AG Mazuz later nixed.
By Nadav Shragai Tags: Menachem Mazuz Hebron Israel settlersThe deal to allow Jewish settlers to remain in the Hebron wholesale market received the cabinet's approval before it was canceled last year, Knesset Member Otniel Schneller from Kadima said Wednesday.
The settlers were evicted from their homes last week, after Attorney General Menachem Mazuz determined that a deal they had made with the Israel Defense Forces was void, and that the army had no mandate to have made the offer in the first place.
Then commander of IDF forces in the West Bank, Brigadier General Yair Golan, promised settlers that they would be allowed to return to homes they had been illegally occupying in Hebron's wholesale market, if those living there left peacefully.
During a discussion in Jerusalem by the Knesset's subcommittee on the settlements in the West Bank, Schneller - himself a settler and a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's ruling party - said that cabinet figures had in fact approved the deal that Mazuz later nixed.
Schneller also said that the deal received the approval of then GOC Central Command, Yair Naveh. His subordinate officer, Golan, was reprimanded by then chief-of-staff Dan Halutz for conducting deals with the settlers "on his own accord."
In the discussion, it also emerged that the Civil Administration - the government body responsible for civilian life in the territories - recommended the settlers pay rent for the Jewish-owned assets they had occupied. The administration's committee rejected the settlers' appeal to reconsider the decision to evict them.
Schneller read out an internal document from the Military Advocate General, which stated that the contract with the Arab occupants of the assets could be legally terminated to allow the asset's owners to rent them out to Jewish tenants in accordance with the owners' wishes.
The committee agreed to request the cabinet to "perform a thorough inspection aimed at regulating Jewish presence in the market, through dialogue and according to law."
|
Border police grab hold of a right-wing activist during the evacuation of two families from the wholesale market in Hebron last week. (Uriel Sinai) |
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
Er - and the hundreds of homes belonging to Arabs before 1948, which were taken by Jews throughout Israel? Tit for tat?
Samir, you and the settler zealots have lots in common. You both are obstacles to a better life. the fact is Jews may have always been in Hebron, but that does not make Hebron neccesarily a Jewish or Israeli city. Jews may remain in Hebron, but that does not mean they should live under Israeli rule or law there. Under a peace deal, Jews should be permitted to stay in their homes there. As Palestinian citizens. That is their choice, just as Israel has arab citizens. Samir, your treatment of those Jews will have ramifications on them as well. Good luck nation building. Youre gonna need it.
What is the obsession with expelling Jews from their homes? Then people come along and call settlers bitter, well the state still hasn't done anything to alleviate the position of those it ethnically cleansed from Gush-Katif.
They might affect your physical and mental health.
arabs will always stay in that market and if you don't want dead settlers keep them away from that place its easy to shoot or stab someone in a busy market
For the readers an Historical background -- The Land in question was purchsed by Sephardic Jews in the 1500's when they fled Spain. It was in Jewish hands for for almost 400 years when the Arabs decided to Riot and kill Jews in 1929 at the behest of Mufti Al-Husseini. There is no dispute as to who owns it. Just a dispute over the Arab re-occupation of the Area.