by Jeremy Sharon
The market buildings will be demolished as part of the construction of the new neighborhood.
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The site of new Jewish construction in Hebron
(photo credit: TZIPI SHLISEL/TPS)
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Defense Minister Naftali Bennett approved on Monday the planning of a new Jewish neighborhood in the wholesale market complex in Hebron.
The market buildings will be demolished as part of the construction of the new neighborhood. New stores will be built in their place, though the rights of the Palestinians to the properties on the ground floors will remain theirs.
The location of the new neighborhood will create a sort of territorial continuum from the Cave of the Patriarchs to the Abraham Avino neighborhood and will double the number of Jews in the city.
The decision was reached after numerous discussions between Bennett and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Public Service Administration, the Shin Bet and other security agencies.The market area was owned by Jews until the 1929 Palestinian Riots. The lands were since abandoned and therein taken by the Jordanian king, until 1967 when they were returned to Israel.The Hebron municipality built a wholesale marketplace on the land, which was active until the 90's. Bennett ordered that all property above the ground-floor marketplace must be "returned to Jewish hands," according to a statement by Bennett's spokesperson.The Jewish community in Hebron lauded the announcement, saying that it thanked Bennett “from the bottom of our hearts” for a decision which they said “will restore Jewish life to Jewish property in Hebron.”
The community added in its statement to the press that “removing the land of those who were murdered from the hands of the murderous mayor of Hebron” is a matter of “historic justice” for which the Jewish people had been waiting for 90 years.”
These comments were a reference to the 1929 Hebron massacre in which 67 Jews were murdered and the land where the new neighborhood is to be built eventually seized by the Jordanians and used to establish a wholesale market. The community also thanked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former justice minister Ayelet Shaked, and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman for their help in bringing about the authorization for the new neighborhood. There was also, however, heavy criticism for the initiative, with Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg denouncing the plan, and describing the Jewish community in Hebron as “the capital of apartheid,” because of the separation in the city of the Palestinian and Israeli populations. She described Bennett as “a messianic” and said the Hebron Jewish community was “the center of Israeli Kahanism,” and that a new neighborhood there would be “a victory for Kahane against Israel.”Chairman of the Council of Judea and Samaria David Elhayani said that the new neighborhood would be “a direct continuation of the ancient settlement of Jewish Hebron, and would help expedite the development of the Jewish community in the city.”
Jeremy Sharon
Source: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Naftali-Bennett-approves-new-Jewish-neighborhood-in-Hebron-609530
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