Three Tehiya Mks Take over Empty Apartment in Hebron and Refuse IDF Orders to Leave the Premises

Three Knesset members representing the Tehiya Party locked themselves inside an empty apartment in the central Arab marketplace in Hebron today. The trio–Geula Cohen, Eliezer Waldman and Gershon Shafat — asserted they would remain in the building until the Cabinet discusses the question of expanding the Jewish presence in Hebron.

Their action took place after a group of Kiryat Arba settlers took over the apartment and were evicted from it by the Israeli Defense Force twice this week. Kiryat Arba residents said the apartment was one of about a score bought in recent months from Arab owners with money raised in Israel and abroad for the purpose of “liberating” Hebron houses from Arabs.

Premier Shimon Peres said today that the settlers’ action in expanding their presence in Hebron was a contravention of the status quo. Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Likud charged that the IDF acted improperly in ejecting the settlers from an apartment they had bought.

The first time the group of eight settlers broke into the empty apartment was Monday night; they were ejected without incident by the IDF on Tuesday night. The occupation of the apartment was carried out despite the curfew in effect in Hebron following the stabbing of Kiryat Arba settler Yaacov Reiter in the marketplace last Saturday. The squatters said they did not take over the apartment in reaction to the stabbing but were merely implementing a decision by the previous Likud government that Jews had the right to reside anywhere in Eretz Yisrael.

The second take-over of the apartment by the group of West Bank settlers — and their eviction by the IDF — took place this morning. The Knesset members also were ordered by the IDF to leave the apartment but they refused to do so. They could not be removed because of their parliamentary immunity.