After several hours of deliberations throughout the night, the families agreed to evacuate their apartments, in exchange for an IDF promise that they will return in two months. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said this afternoon that no agreement exists - even as the families had already begun preparing to move their belongings out. Hevron spokesperson Orit Strook said that Mazuz is simply wrong, adding confidently that she and her neighbors expect the army to fulfill its side of the bargain. The agreement states that the families will evacuate the apartments on their own by this evening, and will remove their belongings and furniture by Thursday. The families and the army will retain keys to the homes, but no one will live there for a cooling-off period of approximately two months. The government will then arrange a renting or leasing agreement - after which Jews will once again be permitted to live there. The area in question lies adjacent to the present-day Avraham Avinu neighborhood, and is by all accounts Jewish-owned. In 1953, Jordanian troops razed the area, wiping out almost all vestiges of Jewish presence. An Arab market began operating there, continuing even after Israel liberated the area during the Six Day War in 1967. Over ten years ago, following a rise in Arab terrorism, the Israeli army shut down the market. A few years later, several Jewish families renovated the buildings, added a floor, and turned them into their homes. Last year, the army ordered them out. The terms of the compromise stipulate that the new residents who will move in not be those who currently live there. The government insists that those who moved into the buildings without permission not be permitted to profit from their actions. Hevron spokesman Noam Arnon was happy with the compromise, saying, "The stolen Jewish property will remain in Jewish hands, and a tough and unnecessary clash has been avoided. The property that was stolen from the Jews who were murdered in the pogrom of 1929 will not be given to their murderers, and we will continue with our holy work of building Hevron." All attention is now turned to Amona, overlooking Ofrah north of Jerusalem. No agreement has been reached, and some 6,200 police and soldiers have been training to forcibly destroy nine Jewish-built homes. Hundreds of Land of Israel supporters are expected to try to arrive, and violence can be expected when the clash begins tomorrow night. MK Uri Ariel (National Union) and his family moved to Amona last night. "Olmert has no god, he'll do everything to look strong and determined," Ariel said, "even if the entire society has to pay the price." Ariel also criticized the Supreme Court for so brusquely rejecting the Amona residents' appeal yesterday: "The Court once again proved that it is totally detached from the nation it judges, losing another historic opportunity to form a bridge between sectors at a time of crisis."
