A group of Jewish settlers move into a house in a Palestinian neighborhood, barely 100 meters from Hebron’s holiest site; group claims to have documentation supporting the move.

Dozens of residents from the Jewish settlement in Hebron occupied a three story house in a Palestinian neighborhood in the city overnight Wednesday, about one hundred meters south of the Cave of the Patriarchs.

The group, which entered the house around 1 A.M. on Thursday, includes entire families, women and children. Representatives of the group claim that the house was purchased nearly four months ago after lengthy negotiations with its previous Palestinian owner. The group states that it holds documents validating its claim on the building.

Following the group’s move into the house, a large contingent of Israel Defense Forces soldiers, responsible for the security of the Jewish settlement in Hebron, arrived on the scene. For now, they decided to maintain the status quo and allow the group to stay. Currently, entry to the building is permitted only to members of the initial group, with no additional persons allowed to enter.

Shlomo Levinger, a well known member of the Jewish community in Hebron, explained that the group received information indicating that the Palestinian Authority caught wind of the deal. In order to prevent the PA from taking action against the deal, the group decided, with the advice of their lawyers, to enter the building and establish their presence.Levinger said to Haaretz: We are following in the footsteps of our father Abraham, who closed the first real estate deal in history when he bought the Cave of the Patriarchs. It is important to point out that we have documents validating the deal. (© Copyright 2012 Ha´aretz 03/30/12)