An Appetite to Destroy

Dear Friends,
What can we say. It was horrible. To get a phone call at 2:00 in the morning, Sunday morning, and to be told: "Quickly come to Kiryat Arba, hundreds of troops are destroying the Federman and Tor homes", to drive to Kiryat Arba bypassing the IDF roadblock at the Gush Etzion intersection and then stand helpless on the hill, together with tens of other Jews, looking how huge tractors destroy those two beautiful homes, more beautiful than Swiss Chalets.

That same Shabbat morning the Israeli government allowed the entrance to Hebron of 550 armed PLO terrorist troops disguised as so-called policemen and on that same day, late at night, that same corrupt criminal Olmert government gives the order to hundreds of IDF troops, police, etc., to crush and destroy the houses of two Jewish families.

Below please find David Wilder's account of what happened.

Thank G-d, on that same day, the Kiryat Arba residents, with the local council, organized themselves and already in the afternoon started to rebuild the place.

For a detailed account and to see pictures of the destruction and reconstruction click on the Arutz 7 article: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128085

There are two issues here:

1) On the level of the national struggle for the land of Israel it is clear that this destruction is part of the plan to destroy other outposts as a first step to the destruction of the entire settlement enterprise, G-d forbid, in order to create a terrorist Arab State in Judea and Samaria. The reaction of the national camp to this destruction must be a fierce reaction to show the world that there is a price to uprooting Jews. The days of Gush Katif are over. This reaction does not have to come right away but one thing is for sure- the most important reaction on the national level is to rebuild the place in defiance to the governments orders and this rebuilding is thank G-d taking place.

2) Secondly, there is the tragedy of two families who have simply lost all their belongings.

Tommorrow, TUESDAY, October 28th at 4:00pm, the Efrat and Gush Etzion action Committees together with Women in Green will drive down to Kiryat Arba with a convoy of humanitarian help to both families who have lost all their belongings.

Only when you see it with your own eyes can you grasp the cruelty of what has happened here.

The Federman family has, bli ayin hara, nine children from age one year old to 17 years old. The Tor family have four small children, bli ayin hara. Except for the clothes they were wearing when expelled, all their belongings have been destroyed. They don't have a house and they don't have underwear, socks, shoes, cutlery, beds, sheets, closets, fridge, table, chairs and anything else we all have to live.

We are working today at trying to put together the basic needs like clothing, furniture, dry food, dry stuff like shampoo, deodorants, laundry detergent, etc.

The easiest way to help is to donate money and the Federmans and Tors will be able to buy with it what they really need.

Please contact us if you can help and or if you plan on joining tomorrow the convoy to help our brothers in Kiryat Arba.

With Love of Israel,
Ruth Matar- Nadia Matar- Anita Finkelstein
Women in Green
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An Appetite to Destroy
David Wilder
October 26, 2008

The Jewish Community of Hebron
P.O. Box 105,
Kiryat Arba 90100 Israel
Tel: 972-2-9965333; Fax: 972-2-9965304

Last night at just after one o'clock my cell phone rang. When the phone rings at 1:00 in the morning, at least in my house, something is wrong. Orit Struck was on the other end, apologizing for waking me up and then informing me that hundreds, if not more, troops - police, soldiers, the riot squad, etc. - were on their way to the Federman farm, located just off the road between Kiryat Arba proper and the Givat Harsina (Ramat Mamre) neighborhood, just about five minutes outside of Hebron. Their goal: to destroy the farm.

The homes on the Federman property have been there for over ten years. Noam and Elisheva have lived there for the past two years. Every once in a while the war drums start sounding, with rumors of an impending expulsion from the land, which the government says is "illegally settled." Most times, it's just noise. That night it looked like the real thing.

I was out of the house within about ten minutes. But when I arrived at Ma'arat HaMachpela, on the only road to Kiryat Arba, I found it blocked by border police and metal gates in the middle of the street. They motioned to me that the road was closed and that I should leave. I pulled out my press card, which in Israel is the closest thing to a magic wand, and presented it to the officer in charge. He took it and made a call on his walkie-talkie. A minute later he came back and returned the card. And told me to leave."But I'm a journalist," I claimed.

He looked at me, said "I know, but you can't go," and walked away.

I requested numerous times, as did others, a warrant declaring the area to be a "closed military zone." Sometimes they responded, "There's a warrant, it will eventually get here," and other times, "There is no warrant." Others were told, "There's a military operation going on ­ you have to stay here for your own good, so you won't be in danger." Some were told, "There's an armed terrorist in the Kasbah - we have soldiers looking for him. It's dangerous for you to be here. Go home!"

The truth was that all roads leading to the Federman farm had been sealed off. The troops didn't want the enemy to have any reserves assisting them.

At about 1:30 the two homes on the Federman farm were forcibly invaded. Sinai Tur and his wife Rivka were told that they had seven minutes to get out. The Federman family didn't have such luxury. The troops broke the home's windows and climbed in through them. They quickly made their way to the children's bedrooms where they shook awake the kids, dragged them from their beds, beating some of them, and forcefully expelling them from their home, still in pajamas. Some of the kids went via the door; others via the window. Noam was immediately arrested, being suspected of planning to "blow the forces up with gas balloons." His daughter Isca, 16 1/2 years old, was also arrested for some unknown reason.

Once everyone was out, the bulldozer started plowing down the houses and other structures on the property. It didn't take too much time, as the families were not allowed to remove any of their belongings. Down came the houses, on top of everything that was inside. By 3:30 or so, it was over.

The families were left homeless and property-less. As Elisheva Federman put it: "They wouldn't let me take my children's books or belongings or mementos. Eighteen years of marriage, nine children - everything we had - gone."

For no apparent reason, except pure hate. Hate for Jews living in Judea and Samaria; hate for Jews living in the Hebron-Kiryat Arba region; and an extra special hate for Noam and Elisheva Federman, who epitomize love for Eretz Yisrael.

The Israeli government, in particular Defense Minister Ehud Barak (who is searching for political brownie points to assist him in the upcoming election) and Generals Gaddi Shamni and Noam Tibon (who is an expert in destroying houses; he commanded the forces that destroyed the home of Livnat Uzeri, whose husband Nati had been, only months earlier, killed by terrorists in their home), is intent on making life as difficult as possible for Jews in Judea and Samaria, and in the Hebron region in particular.

Late this afternoon, a large group of people began work to rebuild the Federman farm. A short time ago an appropriate response was issued by the ruling junta: a warrant was received informing that at ten o'clock tonight the entire area would be declared a "closed military zone," that cement blocks would be placed there surrounding the property, and security forces would remain there to ensure that the area remained sterile (i.e., Judenrein).

Earlier today journalists interviewing me did not seem so interested in the destruction of the property or the expulsion of the families. Rather, they seemed intent on asking/attacking me as a result of remarks made by people at the site of the devastation. Those comments ostensibly called for the death of IDF soldiers, and the "wiping out of their names," and that they should all "be like Gilad Shalit."

There is a saying in Hebrew that a person should not be held responsible for his words when his loved ones are still lying dead in front of him. That is how I relate to the above-quoted remarks. The expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Samaria are all still much too fresh and the fate of those expelled still hurting much too much. It is no secret that this administration has plans to implement further expulsions, be they in the Hebron area, or Binyamin and the Shomron. There is a feeling in the air; a sensation reminiscent of the Rabin-Peres days following signing of the cursed Oslo Accords, when "settlers" were unofficially declared "enemies of the state" and were so appropriately treated.

The IDF and other security forces are an integral element necessary for Israel's survival. But they cannot and must not be taken advantage of to batter the very people they are supposed to protect and defend. I don't believe that anyone has any plans to begin a civil war, but the comments, as extreme as they are, seem to represent the growing frustration level amongst many Israelis. I see them, not as an active threat, rather as the mercury on a thermometer climbing higher and higher, much too fast.

Perhaps those making decisions in the current government should realize that what they refuse to do to Arab terrorists and their families they are all too willing to do to their own Jewish citizens, who have not murdered anyone. And, it seems, with an appetite. An appetite to destroy.

See:
Photos of the destruction www.hebron.org.il/hebrew/gallery.php?id=319&thumbs=1
Video of the destruction www.hebron.com/english/show.php?id=105
See an interview with 12 year old Oved Federman (in Hebrew) www.hebron.org.il/hebrew/show.php?id=171
Hear Elisheva Federman (in Hebrew) www.hebron.org.il/
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Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352,
Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org/