NGO: Israeli signs erasing Palestinian Hebron

A left wing Israeli NGO has petitioned a court against Jewish signs around Hebron, warning that they are eliminating Palestinian heritage in the city.

Rabbis for Human Rights submitted the petition yesterday alongside city residents, demanding the removal of unauthorised posters primarily placed by the “Committee of the Renewal of the Jewish Community of Hebron” on Shuhada Street, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Over the past two years the self-proclaimed committee has placed numerous signs on Palestinian shops and houses, changed the names of the streets from Arabic to Hebrew and presented the settler narrative that claims ancestral Jewish ties to the region.

The settlers are trying to use the signs to change the identity of Hebron, erase Palestinian history and pretend we do not exist

said Issa Amro, founder of Youth Against Settlements and a resident of Hebron.

“The name of the neighbourhood in which I was born was changed from the Arabic name Bab Al-Khan to the Hebrew name, Emek Hebron. The final intention of all this is to pressure Palestinian families to leave their homes and to make it look as though Hebron is a part of Israel.”

Read: Israel settlers make home in Palestinian family’s house in Hebron

Despite such signs being illegal, the settlers placing the offensive posters are usually aided or protected by Israeli occupying forces.

In a statement, Rabbis for Human Rights said the signs constituted “a violation of social, property and cultural rights, as well as contempt towards the Palestinian population.”

Last month, UNESCO declared the Old City of Hebron a Palestinian World Heritage Site endangered by Israel, resulting in widespread condemnation from the settler community.