No Entry for Jews?

(This is how sick the Israeli Government is)

Two days ago, Friday, February 11, on the eve of the Shabbat of the
portion of Tetzaveh, security forces, army and police, prevented a
group of dozens of Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
members from touring the Crusader neighborhood in Hebron, that is
located less than 100 meters from the Cave of Machpelah.

As part of the movement's monthly tours in the area of Judea and
Samaria, this time under the headline: "You have three places
regarding which the nations of the world cannot defraud Israel and
say, You are thieves: the Cave of Machpelah, the tomb of Joseph, and
the Temple," dozens of participants came to Hevron from Jerusalem,
Beit Shemesh, Maaleh Adumim, Modi'in, Efrat, Gush Etzion, and Kiriat
Arba-Hebron.

The tour began at the Cave of Machpelah, where the guide, Aryeh Klein,
explained the cardinal importance of Hebron as the place of the Jewish
people's first acquisition in Eretz Israel. Abraham purchased, not
only the cave to bury his wife Sarah, but also the surrounding field,
thereby acquiring a possession for the Jewish people in its land.

After the tour of the Cave of Machpelah, the group wanted to enter the
nearby Crusader neighborhood. This is a neighborhood that until
recently was neglected, and inhabited by only a few individual Arab
families. Recently, however, much money flowed there from European
countries in order to renovate the quarter, to bring in hundreds of
families of released terrorists, all for the purpose of driving a
wedge between Kiriat Arba and ancient Hebron. Noam Arnon explained
during the tour that if, Heaven forbid, this plan for populating the
quarter were to come to fruition, it would be a ticking bomb.

At the beginning of the week leaders of the Women in Green movement
informed the IDF of the intention to tour that quarter, and received a
negative answer. Indeed, large IDF and police forces stood at the
entrance and prevented the group from going in. Yehudit Katsover and
Nadia Matar, in the name of the entire group, protested this disgrace
and humiliation. "How is it possible that the Spanish Foreign Minister
could tour here last week, but not us? Instead of allocating so many
security forces to prevent us from entering the neighborhood, allocate
these forces to provide security for the tour, which is only a
five-minute long tour of the quarter - less than 200 meters long - in
Area C, which is under Israeli control. Now we have learned that there
is no point in requesting permission. So don't be surprised if our
youth tour the hills of Judea and Samaria without asking for
permission, because every request for permission is refused. We
promise to return to the quarter, without asking for a permit, without
informing you, and tour in it."

Details about the upcoming tour of the quarter will be publicized shortly.

After the protest, the group continued as planned and went to see the
"Stakes in Hebron" exhibition in the Machpela Visitors' Center - an
exhibition of historical photographs taken by Gershon Ellison on the
beginnings of the renewed settlement in Hebron after 1967. The message
of the exhibition is clear: to take the initiative, to push, to
advance, to do, to establish facts on the ground, and to struggle.

The struggle for the land of Israel continues today.

With G-d's help, by the merit of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs who are
buried in Hebron, and by the merit of all the pioneers, the successors
of Caleb son of Jephunneh, "We will certainly go up, and we shall gain
possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it" (Numbers 13:30).

For details: Yehudit Katsover 050-7161818 and Nadia Matar 050-5500834
http://www.womeningreen.org/