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The Israel Defense Forces yesterday halted
the planned demolition
of five houses in Bethlehem after discovering that the owners
were peace activists
who enjoy the patronage of both the American
Embassy and Senator
and former first lady Hillary Clinton.
The IDF decided to
demolish the five-building compound because
two wanted Tanzim operatives, Rafat and
Basel Jawabara, were
discovered hiding
there early yesterday morning. The soldiers
arrested one of the
buildings' owners, Ibrahim Issa , on suspicion
of helping the
wanted men, and at 9 A.M., a bulldozer arrived
and began
demolishing the compound's outer wall.
Shortly afterward,
however, the army received a frantic telephone
call from the
American embassy urging it not to destroy the
houses, as they are
owned by relatives of peace activist, Hussein
Issa .
Issa , who died two years ago, founded the Hope Flowers
school
to foster
Jewish-Arab coexistence in the nearby village of Al-Khader.
The school's
financial backers include both the embassy and
Hillary Clinton, and
it is regularly visited by high-level American
officials. Assistant
Secretary of State William Burns visited
the Hope Flowers
school, when he was here for a round of regional
consultations a few
weeks ago.
Later, after the
demolition had been halted in response to the
embassy's urgings,
an interrogation revealed that one of the
houses had been
rented out to a Palestinian from Yatta, and
it was he who gave
refuge to the two wanted men, without the
Issas' knowledge.
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