Mezuzah placed on new Jewish home in Hevron

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Lawyers for the residents of Beit HaMachpelah in Hevron met Sunday with representatives of the IDF's Civil Administration and discussed the legality of the purchase of the home, which the residents moved into last Wednesday. 

The IDF representatives examined the purchase documents and confirmed that the purchase is legal.

Kadima Knesset Member Otniel Schneller placed a mezuzah Sunday on the building in Hevron bought by Jews from Arabs last week.

Several Jewish families last week moved into the building, located across from the Cave of the Patriarchs, but the IDF declared the purchase a “provocation” and declared the area a closed military zone, banning visitors. MK Schneller has parliamentary immunity and was allowed to enter to place the mezuzah, which contains a parchment of the “Shema Yisroel”  verses of the Torah and is found on every Jewish home.

He told residents, “Jerusalem and Hevron are the head and the heart of the Jewish people, and retaining them is a root of our existence in the Land of Israel.”

He emphasized that existing information shows that the “House of the Patriarchs,” as the building has been dubbed, was purchased legally, and said the government must help the new Jewish owners to complete the bureaucratic process concerning their property rights.

After placing the mezuzah, MK Schneller added, “The Prime Minister has done and will do whatever is legally possible to strengthen the Jewish presence in Hevron and the Patriarchs’ Cave.”

Information Minister Yuli Edelstein of the Likud visited the home Saturday night and examined the deed of purchase. “There is no doubt that this was a legal purchase of the building sold by an Arab family,” he said.

“We must put a stop to the practice of the Palestinian Authority’s hunting down those who legally sell property to Jews,” MK Edelstein added.

The PA operates under a previous Jordanian law that allows for the execution of any Arab who sells property to Jews. Jordan occupied Hevron between the War for Independence and the 1967 Six Day War.

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