CEPR

by Tom Charles

Introduction

The largest city in the Occupied West Bank, Hebron has a population of around 200,000 and is traditionally the commercial hub of the southern West Bank.

The old city of Hebron has buildings dating back to the Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman eras, and the city’s Ibrahimi mosque has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).

Israeli policy has led to the economic devastation of Hebron, severe and extensive restrictions on Palestinian movement. Israel has systematically failed to enforce law and order on violent settlers attacking Palestinians.

Religious occupation

Having lost much of its surrounding area in 1948, the city of Hebron was occupied by Israel in 1967. In 1968 the Israeli occupiers began the Judaisation of the Ibrahimi mosque. The Israeli military governor ordered the destruction of the stairs, eastern door and the well at the mosque, despite their archaeological value.  This was followed in 1972 by the banning of Muslims from some wings of the mosque which were allocated exclusively for Jews.

In 1994 Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli settler and member of the far-right Israeli Kach movement, opened fire on unarmed Palestinian Muslims praying inside the Ibrahim Mosque. 29 Palestinian worshippers were killed and 125 wounded. The attack only ended when Goldstein had expended his ammunition, then he was subdued and killed. Israel responded to the massacre by dividing the mosque in two and made it a fortified site.

The effect of the Judaisation of the mosque is that Palestinians avoid worship at the mosque due to the heavy security procedures imposed by the Israelis and the regular harassment suffered by worshippers. A CEPR delegation witnessed Jewish settlers praying at a high volume to disrespect and torment Muslims, a technique that was also witnessed in the Jerusalem district of Sheikh Jarrah.

Microcosm

Over the years, Israel has established a number of strategic, illegal settlement points in and around Hebron. Protection of these settlements by Israel imposes a high price on Palestinian freedom. The Israeli authorities impose a regime intentionally and openly based on a principle of separation, the result of which is the legal and physical segregation of the Israeli settlers and the Palestinian majority.

The imposition of such policies supports claims that Israel is operating an apartheid regime in the occupied territories. To understand what is happening in Hebron is to understand the all-encompassing nature of the occupation.

The Israeli policy of separation led to the economic collapse of the centre of Hebron and drove many Palestinians out of the area. The findings of a survey conducted by B'Tslem in November-December 2006 show that at least 1,014 Palestinian housing units in the centre of Hebron have been vacated by their occupants. This number represents 41.9 % of the housing units in the relevant area. 65 % (659) of the empty apartments became vacant during the course of the second intifada (‘uprising’, 2000 - 2003). Regarding Palestinian commercial establishments, 1,829 are no longer open for business. This number represents 76.6 % of all the commercial establishments in the surveyed area. Of the closed businesses, 62.4 % (1,141) were closed during the second intifada. At least 440 of them closed pursuant to military orders.

Restriction on Palestinian movement and the closing of businesses

During the first three years of the second intifada, the army imposed a round-the-clock curfew on Palestinians in the centre of Hebron for more than 377 days total, including a consecutive period of 182 days, with short breaks to obtain provisions.

In addition, the army created a contiguous strip of land in the City Centre along which the movement of Palestinian vehicles is forbidden. The middle of the strip contains many sections of road that the army forbids even Palestinian pedestrians to use. The strip blocks the main north-south traffic artery in the city, and therefore affects the entire city.

On a CEPR visit, European politicians were taken on a tour of Hebron city centre. Beautiful old buildings are covered in netting to protect visitors from objects thrown by Jewish settlers living in the occupied buildings overlooking the old town.

400 Jewish settlers have taken over homes in the very heart of the city. These few hundred settlers are protected by the Israeli authorities, with snipers pointing at visitors from the settlers’ stolen homes as you walk through central Hebron. A curfew has been imposed and any Palestinian in central Hebron after dark will be arrested.

The presence of the 400 Jewish settlers has decimated the city economically. Shops are now boarded-up and families are forced to move away from the once-thriving centre due to Israeli intimidation tactics.

Failure to protect Palestinians from settler violence

Over the years, Jewish settlers in Hebron have routinely abused the city's Palestinian residents, sometimes extremely violently. Throughout the second intifada, settlers committed physical assaults, including beatings, at times with clubs, stone throwing, and hurling of refuse, sand, water, chlorine, and empty bottles. Settlers have destroyed shops and doors, committed thefts, and chopped down fruit trees. Settlers have also been involved in gunfire, attempts to run people over, poisoning of a water well, breaking into homes, spilling of hot liquid on the face of a Palestinian, and the killing of a young Palestinian girl.

Israeli soldiers are generally positioned on every street corner in and near the settlement points, but in most cases they do nothing to protect Palestinians from the settlers' attacks. The police also fail to properly enforce the law and rarely bring the assailants to justice. By failing to respond appropriately to settler violence in Hebron, the authorities in effect sanction the settlers' violent acts. These acts, in addition to being severe, have also caused the quiet transfer of thousands of Palestinians from the City Centre.

A report by the respected human rights organisation Al Haq reveals in a report that “Not only are these cases of violence ineffectively prevented, investigated and punished on a routine basis, but sometimes the Israeli occupying forces intervene only against the Palestinians attempting to protect themselves or expel them from their homes in order to appease the attackers.

Harm to Palestinian residents by Israeli soldiers and police officers

The increased presence of soldiers and police in the Hebron city centre brings with it violence, excessive and unjustified use of force, and abuse of the powers granted them by law. Violence, arbitrary house searches, seizure of houses, harassment, detaining passersby, and humiliating treatment have become part of daily reality for Palestinians and have led many of them to move to safer places. In some cases, the Israeli defence establishment does not even try to defend the security forces' conduct.

Israel 's policy in Hebron:

• Violates the right to life, liberty, personal safety, freedom of movement, health, and property, among other rights.
• Breaches Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and Israeli administrative and constitutional law.
• Breaches the prohibition on forced transfer enshrined in the Fourth Geneva Convention and is therefore a war crime, for which the persons responsible bear personal liability.

The Israeli settlement points in Hebron, which were established in breach of Israel's obligations under international law, cause severe and continuous breaches of international legal provisions intended to protect the human rights of persons under belligerent occupation.

Israel contends that it is impossible to ensure the safety of the settlers without separating Palestinians and Israelis in the city, and without infringing the basic rights of the Palestinian residents, which has resulted in Palestinians leaving the City Centre. The State of Israel has the legal and moral obligation to evacuate the approximately 500 Israelis who settled in Hebron and take them back to Israel.