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| Leftists in South Hebron Hills |
Every Sabbath, the provocateurs make their way to the lands of Mt. Sinai Farm in the South Mt. Hevron district, in an attempt to create facts on the ground. The fact that there already are "facts on the ground" – Jewish ones – does not stop them.
The farm is named after Ya'ir Har-Sinai - murdered by Palestinian terrorists nearly ten years ago while tending his sheep. The father of nine carried no weapon. Avidan Ofir, manager of the farm, told Arutz-7's Hebrew news magazine what happened this past Sabbath, when the situation got out of control:
"Around 9:30 in the morning, they surprised us - about 30 people and 400 sheep. The Arabs among them were of the family of the murderer of Ya'ir Har-Sinai, the Mur family. They came with Ezra Nawi [a pro-Palestinian former communist youth activist who served jail time after being convicted of participating in a riot and assaulting a police officer during the razing of an illegal Arab structure – ed.] and his gang to our grazing area – area about which there is no legal question as to its ownership: It is ours, as determined shortly after the Six Day War. We have the required signatures attesting to this from the Civil Administration and the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization.
"The sheep started grazing – and in such numbers, the damage can very quickly become enormous."
The army arrived on the scene shortly, but to Ofir's surprise, "they told us that the Arabs are permitted to graze here, because it is private Arab land."
Ophir argued with the officers in charge, attempting to convince them and even threatening to sue them – and finally, one officer declared the area a "closed military zone." This led to the departure of the infiltrators – but not for long: "Within minutes, we saw them returning with their sheep, and escorted by the IDF and Border Guard police. Again we started arguing, and again we got nowhere. We told them that genuine damage was being caused to us – a flock that size can consume the whole grazing area in five minutes – and that we would have to sue them. Not to mention that they were allowing in the relatives of a murderer..."
Finally, after a few more phone calls to the relevant offices, the truth came out, and the land was declared, once again, part of Har Sinai Farm.
Many are asking how how an incident of this sort could come to pass. Some observers said they blame the misunderstanding on lies repeated too often, false portrayal of Jews as encroachers on Arab lands, and lack of ability or desire to check the facts under pressure. However, the Har Sinai Farm members - IDF soldiers themselves - feel that such mistakes cannot go ignored, and that they have no choice but to sue the Arabs, the anarchists, and even the IDF officers involved for the damage caused.
