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Tuesday, February 12, 2008       Free Headline Alerts

West Bank clans seek reconciliation with Jewish 'residents'

RAMALLAH — Palestinian clans have sought to reconcile with the Jewish presence in the southern West Bank in a break with the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian clan leaders have met Israeli Jews in the Hebron area in an attempt to ease tension, Middle East Newsline reported. The clan members, in a Feb. 10 meeting condemned by the ruling Fatah movement, said they regard the Jews as residents of the southern West Bank city, with a population of more than 80,000.

"We don't see you as settlers, but as residents," Abu Khader Jaabari, the head of a leading clan in Hebron, said on Feb. 10. "Hebron is ours just as it is yours."

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Fatah's militia has threatened to kill Jaabari in the aftermath of the meeting. Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades distributed leaflet calling on Palestinians to target the clan leader.

Later, Jaabari was interrogated by Palestinian Authority officers. In an earlier interview on Israel state radio, Jaabari accused the PA of corruption.

The meeting between Israelis and Palestinians took place amid heightened tension in the Hebron area. Two Israeli hikers, off-duty soldiers, were killed in late 2007 near Hebron.

"The fabric of life throughout the entire country has been destroyed by the false peace produced by the [1993] Oslo Accords, which only resulted in more hatred, the spilling of blood and destruction," former Knesset member Elyakim Haetzni said.

In late 2007, the Jaabari and Abu Sneineh clans relayed interest in a reconciliation with the 500-member Jewish community of Hebron. In October 2007, Jaabari refused to sign an agreement to enable Israeli left-wing activists to destroy a makeshift synagogue outside the Jewish community of Kiryat Arba. Jaabari said the synagogue had been built on clan property.

Palestinian clans have met Jewish residents in other areas of the West Bank in an attempt to resolve tensions. Some of the meetings were reported in the Bethlehem area.

After the Hebron meeting, a Jewish spokesman said the Palestinians agreed to join the Israelis to oppose "extremist elements that seek to sow hatred and destruction in the city." The two sides also agreed to establish a committee to resolve tensions.


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