Heads of local Palestinian clans in Hebron met on Sunday with representatives from Israeli settlements in the area and discussed the easing of tensions between the two sides.This story perfectly illustrates one of the the major themes of this blog: The average Palestinian Arab is much more practical and willing to live with Jews than their so-called "leaders" and the inciters in their press and organized gangs.
The settlers reported that sheikhs Abu Khader Jabri and Haj Abu Ahram Abu Sneina representing the city’s Arab Muslim population in the West Bank city met in Jabri's home with the Kiryat Arba Regional Council head Tzvi Katzover, former Knesset Member Elyakim Haetzni and other settler leaders.
The commander of the IDF's Hebron Brigade, Colonel Yehuda Fuchs, also took part in the meeting.
The Israelis said Sheikh Jabri told them during the meeting that "I do not regard you as settlers but as residents. This city is yours just as much as it is ours."
The Jewish participants described the meeting as cordial, adding that the sides agreed to strive to live in peace with one another.
According to the Israelis, shortly after the meeting began, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades issued a proclamation throughout the city that called for dealing with the meeting's participants "with an iron fist."
Haetzni said following the meeting that "the fabric of life throughout the entire country has been destroyed by the fake peace produced by the Oslo Accords, which only resulted in more hatred, the spilling of blood and destruction."
Some five months ago Jabri denied a request by left-wing activists to sign an order allowing them to destroy the Hazon David synagogue near the entrance to Kiryat Arba, which Jabri has claimed is built on land belonging to his clan.
Since then the settlers have been waiting for the opportunity to thank the sheikh for coming to their aid.
It also shows that the Jews of Hebron, unfailingly portrayed in the Western press as the most rabid and hateful of all the "settlers," are anything but. Rather than being die-hard haters striving to make Hebron Arab-free they are willing to work with local Arabs who show no desire to murder them.
In addition, it shows that left-wing Israelis - the ones that tout "peace" the loudest - are far more hateful than the Arabs they pretend to be defending, and their hatred for Jews living in biblical Israel outstrips their hatred for real terrorism.
Their actions, as well as the reaction of the Fatah-based Al Aqsa Brigades (which the PA claims nominal control over) show who really cares about a true and realistic peace and who works to prolong the conflict.
Decades of non-stop incitement have created a huge dent in the historic pragmatism of Palestinian Arabs, but it is heartening to know that it has not yet disappeared.
UPDATE: More details at Arutz 7.