Meretz-Yahad chairman Yossi Beilin on Monday attacked the compromise reached between the state and Hebron settlers under which Jewish squatters would voluntarily leave the city's wholesale market and would return to the market legally later on. He called the compromise a ‘complete submission to violent settlers.’
‘This is an embarrassing compromise which means complete submission to the violent and extremist settlers of Hebron,’ Beilin said.
Beilin added that the compromise achieved ‘raises serious question marks regarding [the state's] ability to function under pressure and to face difficult diplomatic challenges.’
The agreement between the state and Hebron's settlers was reached early Monday and the state promised settlers it would speed up legal proceedings that would enable them to return to the market legally.
But the Israel Defense Forces still plans to demolish nine houses in the outpost of Amona, near Ofra, later this week, after the High Court of Justice Sunday rejected a petition by Amona residents against the demolition.
The settlers were still keeping their options open Sunday night, issuing a call for people to come to the city immediately - before the army blocks access to the settlement - so that they would be able to help resist the evacuation effort if the settlers rejected the proposal.
The police and the IDF had planned to forcibly evacuate the Hebron market on Monday, and some 4,000 policemen and 2,000 soldiers were trained for the operation yesterday. However, the parties have also conducted negotiations over the last few days with the goal of reaching agreement on a voluntary evacuation.
Brigadier General Yair Golan, commander of the IDF forces in the West Bank, met on Sunday with Hebron settlement leaders to present the state's final offer, whose outline was first reported in Haaretz two weeks ago. Under this proposal, which has been approved by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, settlers would voluntarily evacuate the stores in which they are squatting, and in return, the IDF would speed up a legal examination of the possibility of expropriating the market from the Hebron municipality and leasing it to the settlers. The basis for expropriation is that the market was originally Jewish property, which was seized by Jordan in 1948 and later transferred to the Hebron municipality.
The state has told the High Court in the past that it would favorably consider such an arrangement, but said that the squatters themselves would not be allowed to return: Buildings would only be leased to settlers who were not there illegally.
The Amona demolitions are likely to be moved up from Thursday to Wednesday. A senior security source explained that no compromise is possible over Amona, because the houses there are built on private Palestinian land.
The settlers have already said that they plan to resist the demolitions, and the IDF and the police are preparing for the possibility of violence.
On Sunday, Justices Mishael Cheshin, Dorit Beinisch and Eliezer Rivlin rejected a petition against the demolition, saying that the outpost was completely illegal. Cheshin also harshly criticized the Amona cooperative for petitioning the court while simultaneously calling for a violent struggle.
‘I visited the Amona Web site, and it turns out that people are calling for violent resistance if the petition is rejected. So, they file a petition: If we win, great, if we lose, we're already building at the site,’ Cheshin said, noting that settlers have built ditches and embankments in preparation for resisting the evacuation.
‘The court does not aid whoever judges himself,’ he continued. ‘These calls are not against the British occupier, but against the elected authorities of the State of Israel ... To say that they will engage in a violent battle if the verdict goes against them constitutes contempt of court.’
However, a compromise with the settlers may be in the works on another issue: the army's recommendation that the Elon Moreh Yeshiva be removed from the hesder arrangement, which combines Torah study with army service, because the head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, urged soldiers to disobey orders during the disengagement.
Mofaz recently agreed to overturn this recommendation if Levanon publishes a public recantation of his calls for disobedience, and the yeshiva has already submitted two draft texts, though Mofaz rejected both.
Mofaz has given Levanon until February 15 to submit an acceptable text; if he does not, the yeshiva will be dropped from the hesder program.