Word: qiryat
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After Hebron was captured by Israel in the 1967 war, a Jewish settlement, Qiryat Arba, was established on its outskirts. Now Jews are pressing to settle in the heart of Hebron, where a small Jewish quarter existed until many of its inhabitants were massacred during riots by Palestinian Arabs in 1929. Israeli squatters have taken over one building and are threatening to move into others. But the two communities-4,000 Jews and 50,000 Arabs-seem unable to coexist in peace. TIME Jerusalem Bureau Chief Dean Fischer and Correspondent David Halevy recently visited Hebron. Their report...
...squatters in Hebron are followers of Miriam's husband, Rabbi Moshe Levinger, a leader of the Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful) movement. Levinger, who lives in Qiryat Arba, spearheads the extremist drive to populate the West Bank with Jewish settlers. He and his followers believe it is the "divine right" of Jews to settle anywhere in the land of biblical Israel...
Levinger was the founder of Qiryat Arba. Shortly after the 1967 war, he led a group of his followers, posing as Swiss tourists, to Hebron, where they squatted in the Park Hotel until the Labor government of Premier Levi Eshkol gave them permission to settle in a nearby military encampment. Once their presence was established, the squatters pushed for permanent quarters. In due course, Qiryat Arba, a fortress-like project of high-rise apartments, shops, synagogues and schools, was built by the government at a cost of $50 million...
...fact, settlers from Qiryat Arba regularly intimidate Arab residents of Hebron, secure in the knowledge that the government will not crack down on them. Scarcely a week passes without some incident of vandalism or vigilantism. Grape vines of Arab villagers are cut. The tires of Arab-owned vehicles are slashed and windows smashed. Gun-wielding Israelis invade the houses of Hebron residents, threatening and terrorizing them. At the Haram al-Khalil Mosque, built on the site where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are believed to have been buried, Jews disrupt the prayers of devout Muslims...
...they were targeted. "We enjoyed good neighborly relations," says Abdel Idris, "but after the murder of the Israeli youth, we were told again and again, 'If you won't leave your home, we shall beat you up.' " Counters Zeev Friedman, the newly elected head of Qiryat Arba, who lives only 250 yds. away: "This is part of a struggle between two families-Jews and Arabs. We cannot accept an attack on us without a response...