The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has sharply condemned the Israeli government’s decision Sunday to designate a lot in Gush Etzion as state land.

The decision came as a direct result of the kidnapping and murder by Hamas terrorists of three teenage yeshiva students on the site in early June.

The U.S. claimed the move would damage future final status talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

“We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity,” a Statement Department spokesman said. “This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes, planning step they approve and construction tender they issue, is counterproductive to Israel’s stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians. We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision.”

In general, the U.S. has opposed Israeli development in Judea and Samaria, although most past administrations have ameliorated their concerns, depending on circumstance.

The 4,000-dunam lot is located adjacent to the Gush Etzion community of Alon Shevut, not far from bus stop and hitchhiking post where Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Sha’ar were abducted by Hamas terrorists and then murdered on June 12. Their bodies were found three weeks later in Judea after a massive manhunt by thousands of IDF soldiers and security personnel, in a field owned by the Hebron-based Qawasme clan along Highway 60 between Hebron and Gush Etzion in the PA town of Halhul.

Prior to the designation, the Judea and Samaria civil administration had designated the status of the area — known as Geva’ot — as ‘survey land’ as ordered by the political establishment after the bodies of the three teens were recovered. The move froze the status of the area and prevented construction plans from moving through the system until a determination could be made about its future, according to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

Geva’ot is not new. In 1982, an Israeli cabinet decision laid the groundwork for development of the area as an IDF Nahal community, which started in 1984 and then closed two years later. For the next 10 years the site became the home of the Shevut Yisrael Yeshiva, with small pre-fab homes. In 1998, The Gush Etzion Regional Council reached out to the government, requesting construction of a full-scale city on the site similar to Ariel, Ma’ale Adumim, Modi’il Illite and Beitar Illit. Plans began but two years later were dropped due to international diplomatic pressure. In 2008, once again the plans were picked up and moved forward in 2009, especially after the Annapolis Summit came to naught. By 2012, initial authorization for 523 homes was secured from the Defense Ministry — and there the project was frozen.

Gush Etzion is well within the area Israel is likely to retain in any final status agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

The PA immediately responded that the site belongs to districts of two separate PA-controlled cities: Bethlehem and Hebron. Bethlehem is located across the road and is more than five and a half miles north. Hebron is the same distance, to the south.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, declared Sunday evening, “The settlement enterprise is illegal,” in a sweeping condemnation of every Jewish city, town and village built in Judea and Samaria, including any that might be built on the newly-designated state land. Nearly 400,000 Jews now live in Judea and Samaria.

He, too, said the move would “bring about a further deterioration” in talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority – which at this point includes Hamas in its unity government.

The PA has had to be repeatedly dragged to the negotiations table over the years, each time with ‘enticements’ and ‘good will gestures’ forced on Israel by the United States.

An IDF checkpoint in Hebron was burned down on Friday.

An Arab terrorist threw a firebomb at the checkpoint structure, which is essentially a caravan. The structure caught fire and burned down to the ground.

There were soldiers inside the building, but they were able to get out in time.

It is not clear why the soldiers did not shoot the terrorists.

Photo: Artzi / Rotter.net

The checkpoint separates the PA controlled section of Hebron from the Israel controlled section.

It is used solely to service the Arab population allowing them passage back and forth.

Jews are generally not allowed into the PA controlled section of Hebron, which makes up most of the area of this ancient Jewish city.

A senior Hamas spokesman in Turkey said that the terrorist organization was responsible for the kidnap-murder of three Israeli yeshiva students two months ago, contradicting original Hamas claims that an independent terrorist cell murdered the boys.

The Hamas official, Salach Al-Aruri, boasted of the “heroic action of the Kassam Brigades who kidnapped three settlers in Hebron.”

The three teenagers, Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Sha’ar and Naftali Fraenkel, 16 were abducted and murdered near Hebron. Their bodies were not found for more than two week, and their disappearance galvanized the country in prayer and in a demand that Israel smash the Hamas terrorist infrastructure.

The statement that “credited” Hamas with the kidnap-murders was made at a Turkish conference of the World Association of Muslim Scholars.

If that is what interests Muslim academics, it says a lot about their warped ideology.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF ARTICLE

Sunday evening, August 17 – 18, the home of Marwan Kawasme was surrounded by Israeli security and military personnel, as were neighboring homes. The activity is taking place in Daerat alser, which is in the Hebron vicinity.

It is anticipated that Kawasme’s home is about to be demolished.

Kawasme and Amir abu Aisha are believed to be the kidnappers and murderers of the three Israeli teenagers, Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel. The boys were kidnapped at the Gush Etzion Junction on June 12.

The orders for the kidnapping were allegedly given by Kawasme’s relative, Hussam Kawasme. Hussam was arrested on July 11, as he was attempting to flee into Jordan.

On Aug. 5 it was revealed by the Israeli prosecution that while in custody, Kawasme admitted giving orders to kidnap Israelis this past June.

He also admitted collecting weapons and raising funds for the attack by the Hamas members who carried out the attack.

According to the Israeli prosecution, Hussam Kawasme also allegedly helped conceal the bodies of the murdered teenage boys, which were buried on land he had recently bought.

Hussam assisted Marwan in hiding the boys’ dead bodies by burying them on land he had bought in recent months, the state also said. Marwan Kawasme was a convict who was released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.

The information was presented by the state to Israel’s High Court of Justice, as part of its justification for requesting the demolition of the residences of the three suspected terrorists.

The demolition request has been pending for some time.

UPDATE: The homes of two of those believed to have planned and kidnapped and murdered Our Boys were demolished last night, and the home of the third suspect was sealed off and will soon be demolished, according to IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.

Hussam Kawasme, the suspect who was arrested on July 11 and confessed to being the mastermind of the kidnapping plot, and who helped his clan-mate, Marwan Kawasme, bury the three boys, was demolished, as was that of Amer abu Aisha. The home of Marwan Kawasme was raided and sealed off during the same operation.

18th of Av – 85 years ago today (August 24th on the Gregorian calendar) the ancient Jewish community of Hebron was massacred and destroyed.

67 Jews were killed by their Arab neighbors. The British authorities, who ruled in the Land of Israel at the time, then evacuated the remaining Jewish survivors.

This massacre was part of the 1929 Arab riots, when the Arabs also massacred the Jewish residents of Safed (Tzfat).

Some Jews tried to return to their homes in 1931, but were then evacuated in 1936, when once again the Arabs rioted.

It wasn’t until 1967 that Jews were able to return to the ancient Jewish city of Hebron.

1929 is 38 years before there were any “settlements”, and follows thousands of years of Jewish residency in Hebron.

An 11-year-old Arab boy has allegedly been killed in violent Arab rioting Sunday morning in Al Fawwar, on the outskirts of Hebron.

Gaza-based Hamas agitators and their sympathizers in Judea and Samaria have been urging Palestinian Arabs and those with Israeli citizenship to increase participation in violent incidents as much as possible in order to expand a budding third intifada.

On Sunday morning, the IDF soldiers were trying to contain the violence around Hebron, which included Arabs in the mob hurling bricks and other items at the Israeli soldiers.

Palestinian Authority sources claimed the child was killed by Israeli gunfire. An IDF spokesperson told TheJewishPress.com the IDF is “checking the report.”