Shuhada Street, a busy commercial and residential center in the Palestinian City of Hebron, is closed and blockaded by Israeli Defense Forces. For over a week, the street has been the scene of protest, boarded up storefronts and the resistance of Palestinian youth who have come out to confront the heavy Israeli military presence.
 Palestinians fight back against Israeli police repression of protests in Hebron |
Israeli forces have used tear gas and rubber bullets against the Palestinian protesters. One report states that a Palestinian youth has been detained during an attempt by Palestinians to hold a march on Shuhada Street.
The previous day, 300 Palestinians were joined by several dozen Israelis at a demonstration at a historic site that was added to Israel’s “heritage list.” In 1994, a U.S.-born Zionist opened machine-gun fire on Muslims praying at the mosque, killing 29 people and injuring hundreds.
On Feb. 21, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu included the names of the sites in Hebron, a city of 170,000 Palestinians in occupied territory in the West Bank, held by Israel since 1967, to a new “national heritage” list. Hebron is about 20 miles south of Jerusalem.
Israel is making claims to sites that are not inside Israel according to international law, violating the sovereignty of the Palestinian people and creating provocation with continued construction of Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
“Our objection to this lies in the fact these sites are on Palestinian land that was occupied in 1967, precisely the lands upon which the independent Palestinian state will be established,” said Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayed Feb. 26.
The sites include two tombs called the “Cave of Patriarchs” and known to Muslims as Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque. The sites have historic significance for all three Abrahamaic religions.
It is the newest of examples of the Israeli policies to annex Palestinian land through its apartheid settler policies in occupied territories. Already there are 800 Israeli settlers in a heavily guarded outpost in the center of Hebron.
“By calling these places part of their historical heritage, they are trying to confirm their historical ownership of the land … their illusionary heritage on our land,” stated Deputy Mayor Tawfiq Salah al-Kader, outside of Bethlehem.
