Thursday, Jul 30, 2015
Ramallah: Israeli colonists are implementing a systematic strategy to take over Hebron gold souq at the centre of the city’s Old Town, with colonist families moving in to live in the sealed shops closed by an Israeli military order in 2000.
Sources at Hebron Rehabilitation Committee asserted that at least seven of the 22 sealed shops in the souq have already been taken over by colonists who plan to take over the remaining shops and turn the entire area into an additional colonial outpost. Hebron city has several such outposts and these have complicated the lives of the resident Palestinians.
About 800 ultraorthodox Israeli colonists live in the centre of Hebron and its Old Town among more than 800,000 Palestinians, producing what is widely considered the most fraught spot in the West Bank. The day-to-day friction between the Palestinians and the colonists, who enjoy support and protection from the Israeli military forces, makes life for Palestinians in the city impossible.
Hebron Rehabilitation Committee sources told Gulf News that activists from the committee managed to get footage of the seizure of the souq shops on tape and the organisation intends to release this footage shortly.
The sources said that the colonists broke the locks, which had protected the shops for more than 15 years, and turned them into residential apartments inhabited by colonist families.
The sources said that the Palestinian owners of the shops, who are still alive and who can prove their ownership of the shops, had not expected their shops would be a target for colonists and so left their belongings in them. The colonists threw them away.
The sources said that the colonists have all the tools to demolish the walls of nearby shops to meet their families’ apparent housing needs. No official control is being exercised over their actions. The sources also said that the colonist families have been using the electricity subscriptions of the shops. These were originally provided by Hebron Municipality and the rightful owners have been paying them even though their shops have been sealed off by the Israeli military.
The 2000 closure of the souq occurred after the start of the Al Aqsa Uprising (Al Aqsa Intifada). At that time, the Israelis issued an order sealing off Hebron gold souq and declared it a military zone from which Palestinians were denied access. Since then, the sources said, no Palestinian has entered the souq and Hebron institutions were shocked by the new Israeli plan to allow colonists to live in the site.
The committee said that the owners of the shops will take all available official measures against the colonists who have illegally occupied their buildings.
By Nasouh Nazzal Correspondent
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
