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Source: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4942727,00.html
An Open Letter to Richard Gere
(Ynet News) Ben-Dror Yemini - The actor Richard Gere recently visited Hebron, where he said that for the local Palestinians, "it's exactly what the Old South was in America. Blacks knew where they could go....It was well understood. You didn't cross over if you didn't want to get your head beat in, or you get lynched." Let me tell you that I am in favor of a decent solution which will give the Palestinians welfare, prosperity, sovereignty and independence. If only they wanted that too, rather than to fight against Israel's existence. Hebron is the Jews' holiest and most important city after Jerusalem. Jews lived there even after the Arab occupation in the seventh century. In 1929, 59 Jews were murdered by a rampaging Muslim mob, while a few Muslims hid Jews. Following the pogrom, the Jews were forced to leave and the Muslims took over the Jewish neighborhood and the Jews' homes. Several years after the Six-Day War, Jewish settlement was resumed in the area where the Jewish neighborhood had been located. There was no robbery of Palestinian property. Israelis hold only a small part of the Jewish property which was robbed from Jews in 1929. As part of the Wye Memorandum signed in 1998 between then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat, Jews - and only Jews - are barred from 97% of Hebron. Restrictions on the Palestinians apply primarily to one street, al-Shuhada, which connects two Jewish neighborhoods. Palestinians are in no danger of getting lynched, but a Jew who accidentally enters Palestinian territory, on the other hand, will get lynched. Security measures are being taken because most Palestinians in Hebron support Hamas, which supports the annihilation of Jews.