A July 26 Page One article about the tension between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron incorrectly said settler spokesman David Wilder largely dismissed public relations until a 1994 shooting. It was the Hebron settlers generally who did not embrace public relations until that event; Wilder did not become spokesman until two years later.
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In Divided Hebron, a Shared Despair
International observers say Jewish settlers regularly toss debris onto the chicken wire above Jamal Maraga's shop.
(Photos By Scott Wilson -- The Washington Post)
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"This building will show us whether there is a right for a Jew to buy a house in Hebron," said Baruch Marzel, a Hebron settler who has established a 70-student yeshiva in the home. "Or will Hebron be the only place in the world a Jew is not allowed to do so?"
'After All That . . .'
Mohammed al-Jabari looks out from his home, across a courtyard of grapevines and olive trees, to the army post on the roof of the settlers' new acquisition. On this day, he is waiting for a funeral, vivid evidence that separating Jews and Arabs here does not guarantee security for either.
"We don't know the people who come and go from there," said Jabari, 22, a bespectacled middle school chemistry teacher. "We try to stay inside now as much as possible."
A few hours later, in the adjacent cemetery, dozens of men gathered beneath cypresses and pines to escape the sun. Yehiya al-Jabari, a 67-year-old shepherd from Hebron and a distant relative of the teacher's, would soon be buried.
About 1 a.m. that day, Israeli soldiers had entered Yehiya al-Jabari's home looking for his 18-year-old son, Saleh. Seeing the soldiers come in, the men and women of the family accosted them. One tried to snatch a soldier's gun, Israeli military officials said, and the officer opened fire.
One shot struck Jabari's wife, Fatmeh, in the neck. The next hit Yehiya, who also dropped to the floor. An Israeli medic administered CPR to Fatmeh, reviving her, but Yehiya died in his living room.
"After all that, they said, 'Where's Saleh?' " recalled Sami al-Jabari, Yehiya's brother, who witnessed the scene.
Men and boys bore Yehiya's wooden stretcher up the hill, pausing to allow mourners to kiss his face. Some held Hamas flags, and the angry chants celebrating martyrdom carried down to the soldiers at the settlers' new home. Then, after tipping the body into the dry ground, the men wandered back down the hill into the divided city.
