Arab who sold Hevron house to Jews threatened with death

The Knesset house committee chairman visited the house in dispute in Hevron, and has charged that Ehud Barak is committing obstruction:

MK Yariv Levin was allowed to vist Beit Hamachpela (House of the Patriarchs) in Hebron on Monday only after battling with Defense Ministry officials to exercise his perogative as a lawmaker.

"The attempt to thwart my visit to the Patriarchs is a violation of Knesset working authority," Levin, who chairs the Knesset House Committee, said.

MK Levin visited the tent city near the house from which 15 Jewish families were evicted using a legal technicality shortly before the holiday of Passover began.

"The Patriarchs residents were evicted from their home two weeks ago, a period which no doubt was long enough to test the legality of the acquisition structure," Levin said.

MK Miri Regev (Likud) is expected to visit the tent city tomorrow.

But what's really offensive now is that the man who sold the house was arrested by the PLO and faces death:

Meanwhile, it was reported this week that the Palestinian Authority sentenced the Arab who brokered the purchase of Beit Hamachpela to the Jewish families, Muhammad Abu Sehaleh, to death.

Following sentencing, David Wilder and Noam Arnon of Hevron's Jewish dashed off a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon saying, "It is shocking to think that selling property to Jews remains somewhere in the world a crime that is punishable by death."

"The fact that this law exists in any legal system indicates a distorted and barbaric notion of the term 'Justice,' and is reminiscent of the legal systems of the Middle Ages.

"We appeal to all international leaders to demand the abolition of the death sentence pending against Muhammad Abu Sehaleh, and to also demand his immediate release from prison.


"He did not commit any crime," they wrote.

Sehaleh's sentence must be signed by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas before it is carried out.

This is something that demands serious protest and outrage, but if you ask me, it's useless to appeal to the UN to help on something like this.