An Israeli-Arab odd couple seek peace in Hebron

Dressed in a traditional robe, Jaberi, a relative of one of Hebron's first Palestinian mayors, welcomed the visitors with pita bread and fruit. The guests of honor – settlers infamous in Israel as ideological provocateurs – snapped pictures and sat alongside their hosts.

"I told them we've been living together for 60 years. There's bloodshed every single day," recalls Jaberi. "We cannot cancel you and you cannot cancel us."

Settler leaders said they took that to heart.

"This was music to our ears," says Mr. Haetzni, a longtime resident of the neighboring settlement of Kiryat Arba. "We want to live together, and have no dream that there should be no Arabs in Hebron."

The turning point came last September over the Jewish New Year, when the sheikh was approached by a group of radical Israeli peace activists who asked permission to destroy a makeshift synagogue tent constructed illegally on his property by Jewish settlers. The peace activists don't approve of the structure as it sits on Palestinian land. Sensing the potential for new violence, Jaberi turned them down.

"That gave huge leverage to open hearts and to unfreeze the way to peace," says Mr. Magrafta, who spends so much time among Palestnians in Hebron that he is known as Abu Naim, an Arab nickname, which means father of Naim.

"It caused the Jewish settlers to realize they have good neighbors. Everything starts from respect. The sheikh respected a place that's holy for Jews. How can I not respect him?" he asks.

After recovering from their initial surprise, the settler leaders saw a political opportunity. Fearful that they may experience a repeat of Israel's forced evacuation of some 9,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, the ties to the Jaberi clan may help them defy the assumptions of peace negotiators that Jewish settlers should not remain deep in Palestinian regions.

Unlike the West Bank landscape of separated Arab and Jewish towns, about 7,500 settlers live in and around Hebron in intimate proximity to the city's Palestinian population of about 130,000.

"We want to build a new peace situation that is built on the rights of people to live in this area without being the victim of evacuation," said Noam Arnon, the spokesman for the 600 or so settlers who live inside the city limits.

Jaberi says the settlers' status in the city ultimately depends on the outcome of these fledgling talks. If the Israeli army does remove checkpoints and opens Palestinian shops in the vacated old city, he'll be able use his family's power to possibly prevent attacks from Palestinian militants.

But analysts are skeptical about the potential of this new alliance.

"A local initiative for a limited period of time could work. But I wouldn't expect it to go beyond that into political recognition," says Gershon Baskin, the copresident of the Israel-Palestinian Center for Research and Information. "It's difficult for me to see any kind of modus vivendi between the settlers in Hebron and the Palestinians there. You're talking about the most extreme group of settlers – and the Palestinians of Hebron don't represent the most moderate group of Palestinians, either."

The next move

On a Hebron road severed by concrete blocks and a military watchtower, settling old scores seemed less important than easing life for the thousands of Palestinians who cannot drive.

As she neared the blockade with her elderly mother-in-law and year-old son, Dalal el-Muhtasib explained how visiting her aunt inside the restricted neighborhood once took five minutes by taxi. Now, the ban on Palestinian vehicles means a 20-minute walk.

Ms. Muhtasib says she has hope that the sheikh's talks with the settlers may improve daily life for Palestinians like herself living in Hebron. "We will sit with the devil to remove the siege."

Magrafta, the negotiator, says action is needed from the government to respond to the progress in Hebron. "There is a population is really suffering from the road closure. It needs to be solved as soon as possible, to show to the people that the shiekh brought results and that it's not [just] another meeting that looks nice."

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