Yeshiva Shavei Hebron students took over a house in Hebron’s Old City on Tuesday. It was the first time Jews had entered the Old City since 1929, the yeshiva said in a press release.
The IDF and the Palestinian Authority control different parts of Hebron.
The yeshiva said it plans to renovate the historic Valero house, which is currently uninhabitable, into dorm rooms for its students. About 450 students attend Shavei Hevron, the yeshiva said.
The students affixed a mezuzah on the door of the house and claimed it for the yeshiva, it said.
“We are happy and full of gratitude to Hashem for the privilege of being emissaries for Am Yisrael and for the State of Israel in the making of historic justice by the redemption of Jewish property stolen after the 1929 Arab riots,” said Rabbi Hananel Etrog, the yeshiva’s dean.
“We also express our thanks to the many emissaries in the government, the Civil Administration, the IDF, and [OC Central Command Maj.-Gen.] Avi Bluth.”
What happened during the Hebron massacre?
In 1929, an Arab uprising in Hebron killed 67 Jews and forced the Jewish community out of the city.
The seizure of the house “represents the making of national history,” the yeshiva said.
“We returned to the place from which Jews were expelled nearly 100 years ago,” it said. “The murderers need to understand that it doesn’t matter if two years have passed since the terrible massacre of Simchat Torah or 96 years since the murderous riot of 1929. We will return to every home, to every place, and to every parcel of land in Eretz Yisrael.”