Rally Against Illegal Arab Construction in Hebron Points Finger at Civil Administration

By: Yori Yanover

Published: May 25th, 2012

Noam Arnon, center, Spokesman for the Hebron Jewish residents, decried the blatant discrimination against Jewish construction in the city.
Photo Credit: Eliyahu Afarsemon / Tazpit

The Tazpit news agency reported on a rally in Hebron Thursday night which protested the lack of enforcement on illegal Arab construction currently taking place along Zion Road, the 700 meter route connecting the Jewish neighborhood of Kiryat Arba and the Cave of the Patriarchs.
The rally was in response to the massive Arab construction in the area, which the Civil Administration has been ignoring, while meticulously enforcing a ban on all new Jewish construction.
Some 50 people marched from Kiryat Arba to Cedar Lane, along Zion Road.
Action Committee member Blicher life noted that “it is forbidden according to the Hebron Agreement for the Arabs to build higher than three stories around the Jewish settlement.”
The 1997 Hebron Agreement divides the city into H1, a Palestinian run section, and H2, a Jewish section which also includes some 40 thousand Arabs, and is run by the Civil Administration of the Ministry of Defense.
Blicher explained that “today we can see Arab construction that goes above three stories, ignoring the agreement without any response from the Civil Administration. There is a blatantly unequal enforcement of the law here, where on the one hand any Jewish construction or house is demolished and cleared, while Arab construction continues freely.”
Spokesman for the Jewish residents of Hebron Noam Arnon spoke at the Peace House, near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, saying, “The Jews are discriminated against, and nowadays a Jew can’t build an inch, while the Arabs are free to build.”

Demonstrators hung a photograph of an eviction order from the Cave of the Patriarchs, which states that Jewish entry into the cave constitutes a violation of the delicate status quo in Hebron.
The demonstrators hung an altered version of the order on the doors of Arab homes, calling Arab construction a violation of the delicate balance in the city.