The leaders of the two main Arab family clans in Hevron and of the Jewish community in the city met on Sunday to renew the friendly Jewish-Moslem ties that once existed there.

Sheikh Abu Hader Jaabri and Haj Abu Akram Abu Sneineh, who together represent the majority of the population of Hevron, met with Kiryat Arba Mayor Tzvi Katzover, Hevron Jewish Community spokesman Noam Arnon, IDF Hevron Commander Yehuda Fuchs and others. Arnon later described the meeting, held in Sheikh Jaabri's large and luxurious home, as "warm and hearty, during which the participants declared their wish for peace and security in the City of Patriarchs." Each side granted the other a certificate of appreciation.

A few hours afterwards, Sheikh Jaabri was summoned by Palestinian Authority officials for a "discussion" of clarification. Posters were also hung throughout the city against the Sheikh for his meeting with the Jews...

...The meeting was the outgrowth of an incident that occurred five months ago, on the night of Rosh HaShanah. A radical group of left-wing anarchists planned to destroy a makeshift synagogue named Hazon David, just outside Kiryat Arba. It was originally established in mid-2001 following the terrorist murders of Kiryat Arba residents David Cohen and Chezi Mualem nearby.

The "peace" activists, however, did not take one factor into account in their attempt to destroy the synagogue: Sheikh Jaabri, on whose property it was built. He told them that he refused to sanction the destruction of a house of prayer on his property - and the act of Rosh HaShanah vandalism was thus avoided...