Increased Arab violence, Jewish vigilantism and rapidly worsening relations with the Christian churches in Jerusalem appear to be the fruits of the Likud caretaker government’s race to establish or expand the Jewish presence in several areas where other groups claim exclusive domain.
The controversy has polarized opinion at home and drawn criticism from abroad.
The most serious development was the move by 150 Orthodox Jews two weeks ago — with the government’s clandestine help — into a building owned by the Greek Orthodox Church in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.
Other trouble spots are Dugit, a new settlement in the Gaza Strip, and Hebron in the West Bank, where more flats for Jewish families are being built in the heart of the largely Arab town.
Activists associated with Rabbi Meir Kahane’s extremist Kach movement damaged scores of Arab homes and vehicles in the Hebron region Monday.
Sources in Kiryat Arba, the religious Jewish township adjacent to Hebron, said the vandalism was in response to the wounding of Mordechai Gabai, a bus driver whose vehicle was fired on Sunday. He was slightly hurt.
Scores of Kiryat Arba residents rampaged early Monday morning. Marking off 15 sites where they claimed Jews were attacked, they smashed the windows of Arab homes and the windshields of Arab-owned cars and slashed their tires.
CHURCHES ESCALATE PROTESTS
Late Monday night, passengers on an Egged bus which was stoned near the village of Beit Ummar, left the vehicle and attacked Arab cars that were either passing by or parked.
The Arab attacks appeared to be directly related to attempts to expand the Jewish presence in Hebron, where the Construction and Housing Ministry has just completed 14 apartments in what has been designated the Jewish Quarter.
The first families moved in on the eve of Passover, among them the family of Rabbi Moshe Levinger, a leader of the messianic settlement movement who recently was acquitted in the fatal shooting of an Arab.
Levinger, who used to boast he could walk anywhere in Hebron unarmed, was hit by stones Tuesday near Beit Romano, in the Jewish Quarter. He was treated at a hospital and sent home.
The situation in Jerusalem was complicated when the government’s Construction and Housing Ministry admitted Monday that it helped fund the acquisition of the building in the Christian Quarter that was taken over by Jews on April 11.
It is the first settlement of Jews in the Christian Quarter since Israel captured the Old City from Jordan in the Six-Day War of 1967.
The Greek Orthodox Church claims it owns the building and that the Jewish settlers leased it illegally. Israel’s High Court of Justice is scheduled to review the case on Thursday.
The heads of the nine largest churches in Jerusalem decided Monday to escalate their protests against the Jewish settlers. They announced that Christian holy places in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth will be closed in protest Friday. Church bells will ring on the hour for 24 hours.
ADL EXPRESSES ‘DEEP CONCERN’
The Ministry of Religious Affairs reacted strongly. It accused the churches Tuesday of trying to affect the High Court’s decision.
“This amounts to a basic and serious violation in the status quo that we strive to preserve in order to maintain regular religious services,” the ministry said.
Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem, who has been critical of the settlers from the outset, said the reaction of the churches showed how hurt they were by events in the Christian Quarter.
In New York, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, a consistent supporter of Israel, expressed “deep concern” Tuesday over the government’s revealed involvement in moving Jews into the Christian Quarter.
“This official support given to the Jewish settlers only serves to disrupt the status quo and gives ammunition to those wishing to upset the religious harmony which currently exists in the Holy City,” the ADL said in a statement released by Burton Levinson and Abraham Foxman, national chairman and national director respectively.
A day earlier, the American Jewish Congress issued a statement saying it was “appalled” at the government’s involvement in the effort.
The only succor came from the International Christian Embassy, a pro-Israel group identified with Christian fundamentalist denominations in America. The group called it “absurd” to “deny Jews the right to live in their own Jerusalem.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
