The IDF has opened the Jewish/Arab Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Chevron to non-residents of the area, except those aged between fifteen and thirty, for the first time since November 2015, when terror in Chevron was at its height.
The IDF announced, “In accordance with military orders, pedestrian movement is allowed from the Hashoter checkpoint toward Tel Rumeida through Jilbar checkpoint, with the exception of nonresidents between the ages of 15-30.”
Local Arab activists attribute the army’s change of policy to an Open the Zone campaign launched this month by two liberal organizations.
Tel Rumeida is thought to be the oldest part of Chevron. Jews began living there in 1984 in portable homes. Sixteen permanent housing units were constructed there in 2001. Chevron is inhabited by 30,000 Palestinians and about 800 Jews who live in the environs of Meoras Hamachpeilah.
David Steger – Matzav.com Israel
