MIDDLE EAST: Israel's interim prime minister is facing more unrest from Jewish settlers, writes Nuala Haughey
Israel's interim prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is squaring up to extremist West Bank settlers in an apparent bid to establish his leadership credentials ahead of a general election next March.
He has strongly reprimanded hardline setters in the volatile city of Hebron who rioted sporadically in the past week amid preparations by security forces to remove nine Jewish families who have commandeered shops in the former Palestinian vegetable market.
The Israeli army yesterday lifted a "military closure" imposed on the city last Monday after several days of unrest which presented Mr Olmert with one of his first major challenges in government since he took over from Ariel Sharon, who remains in a coma following a massive stroke a fortnight ago.
Accusing Hebron's settlers of "undermining the rule of law", Mr Olmert this week ordered defence forces to proceed with the evictions, which officials expected would begin next month.
However, Jewish settler residents, angered by last summer's Israeli withdrawal of troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip, insist they will resist attempts by police to remove them.
"If they bring in troops to move us out you are not going to see a repeat of the summer, when Jews were singing and dancing and hugging and kissing," said community spokesman David Wilder, referring to emotional scenes during the August pull-out of settlers from Gaza.
Hebron's 500 Jewish settlers, who are considered among the most radical in the occupied West Bank, live in a small canton in the heart of the volatile city of 150,000 Palestinians.
Hebron's old city, where the settlers live under heavy Israeli army protection, has become a virtual ghost town in recent years, with human rights groups estimating that some 20,000 Palestinians have fled their homes near the settlements because of attacks by settlers and near-constant military curfews.
Hebrew graffiti on the old city's shuttered and abandoned Palestinian shops say "Death to the Arabs" and "Arabs to the Gas Chambers", while recent testimonies of former Israeli soldiers serving in Hebron chronicled the mistreatment and violent abuse of Palestinians by troops and settlers alike.
Yet the city is revered as a holy place where, the Bible says, Abraham purchased his first plot of land as a burial cave for his wife.
Miriam Grabowski (25), from one of Hebron's nine settler families facing eviction, said she moved to the former market because of her conviction that the city was bequeathed by God to the Jewish nation.
"Some people don't understand how I can live with enemies all around me, but I tell them that Hebron is a microcosm for all Israel. If you look at Israel on the map you can see around it Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, none of them nice countries for us," she said.
A small Jewish community existed in Hebron for centuries until they were forced to leave in the wake of an Arab massacre of 66 Jews in 1929. Jewish settlers returned after Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Six Day War and have gradually fanned out in the old city, often by seizing new properties in the wake of attacks on Jews.
Some Israeli analysts say Mr Olmert's plans for Hebron are merely pre-election posturing, an effort to show that he is charting an independent course in the absence of the incapacitated Sharon.
"The storm will pass and the government will give control of the Jewish market in Hebron over to the Jewish community," the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said in an editorial yesterday. "This prediction is based on past experience, which shows that in almost all cases, the fanatics overcome the government and the legal status of property."
Palestinian militias to blame for non-combatant deaths: page 16
A Palestinian suicide bomber wounded 30 people in Tel Aviv yesterday, raising tensions six days before the Palestinian election and confronting interim Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert with a major test. The bombing at a popular sandwich stand was the first in Israel since prime minister Ariel Sharon was incapacitated by a massive stroke on January 4th, and could put pressure on Mr Olmert for harsh reprisals in the Palestinian territories.