Army Removes Squatters in Hebron

Israeli soldiers cleared an ancient synagogue in Hebron last night. They forcibly removed about 30 residents of the nearby Orthodox township of Kiryat Arba who took over the Avraham Avinu Synagogue in defiance of military government orders.

The squatters said they would remain on the premises until the Defense Ministry carried out its promise to refurbish the shrine. A Ministry spokesman said the military would not be bullied or dictated to. Soldiers dragged the squatters into buses which took them to the Beersheba police station. They were charged and subsequently released.

The Avraham Avinu Synagogue and other remnants of the former Jewish community in Hebron have become a cause celebre of Kiryat Arba, a hotbed of Gush Emunim ultra-nationalism and religious zealotry. Their aim is to force the government to re-establish a Jewish community in Hebron where the entire population is Arab. The last Jews fled during the Arab riots and massacres in 1929.

The American Sephardi Rabbinical Union meanwhile has called on the Israel government to restore the Avraham Avinu Synagogue in time to mark the 50th anniversary of the Arab uprising. Abraham Duek of New York, director of the organization, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he has made representations to Interior Minister Yosef Burg and Religious Affairs Minister Aharon Abu-Hatzeira on the subject, but received no commitment.

Duek said the American Sephardis would finance the restoration work on the synagogue. They are also prepared to finance enlargement of the Biblical Pool of Siloam if the government undertakes the work. The Sephardi Union’s interest seems to be purely religious with no political motivations. (By David Landau)