Israel’s Cabinet decided Sunday that Jewish settlers may remain in the Arab village of Silwan, as long as they can prove ownership of real estate there.
The decision, which goes against the advice of Attorney General Yosef Harish, appears to open the way for massive Jewish settlement in all parts of Jerusalem, including neighborhoods heavily populated by Arabs.
While setters applauded the move, critics voiced concern that it could have negative repercussions for the bilateral Arab-Israeli peace talks scheduled to resume in Washington on Tuesday.
They also feared it would spark unrest on the fourth anniversary of the Palestinian intifada, which falls Monday.
The Cabinet decision came in the wake of a new spate of stone-throwing attacks in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Four Israeli-owned vehicles were set on fire in East Jerusalem within a two-hour period Friday.
But with the intifada anniversary falling Monday, the unrest is expected to worsen. Security forces have been put on high alert to cope with possible widespread rioting.
The Cabinet’s decision related specifically to Silwan village, an intifada hot spot within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries at the foot of the Temple Mount.
On Oct. 9, 40 Jewish families clandestinely occupied five Arab houses there, claiming legal ownership.
Threats of possible violence from local Arab residents caused the police to intervene. They evacuated most of the squatters. But a group of settlers was permitted to remain, pending investigation of the legal status of their claim.
They occupied a building known as Meyouhas House, named after a Jewish family said to have owned it before the Arab riots of 1929.
SURRENDER TO ‘POLITICAL HOOLIGANISM’
Attorney General Harish, the government’s chief legal adviser, recommended Nov. 26 that the settlers be removed because unrest arising from their presence could spread all over Jerusalem.
The Cabinet, in effect, dismissed that warning when it announced Sunday that any Jew who could prove ownership of real estate in Silwan had a right to remain there.
It instructed the Jerusalem police to “ensure the safety of all the residents of Silwan.”
A stampede of Jewish settlers is expected to follow, laying claim to property in what has until now been exclusively Arab neighborhoods. That, in fact, may be the intention of Housing Minister Ariel Sharon, a Likud hard-liner who owns an apartment in the Moslem Quarter of the Old City.
The Jerusalem weekly Kol Ha’ir reported early in October that the Housing Ministry, urged on by religious activists, planned a major new project to settle Jews deliberately in Arab-populated areas of Jerusalem.
News of the Cabinet’s announcement took the squatters by surprise. All were away from the premises at the time, but they quickly returned.
“It is a natural and just decision,” said Avi Maoz, a leader of the local settlers group. He expressed surprise that the police would consider depriving Jewish settlers of their “lawful rights.”
He was echoed by Likud Knesset members Michael Eitan and Tzahi Hanegbi, who have been active on behalf of the settlers. According to Eitan, any other decision by the Cabinet would have compromised Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and been interpreted as a surrender to Arab terrorism.
But Knesset members Yossi Sarid and Ran Cohen of the Citizens Rights Movement called the decision yet another “dangerous surrender to the political hooliganism of the extreme right.”
They accused the government of appeasing the settlers “at the expense of security in Jerusalem and at the expense of the rule of law.”
Amnon Rubinstein of the Center-Shinui Movement said the decision would force the police to maintain a continuous state of emergency in Silwan and would further harm Israel’s political standing abroad.
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