Hebron settlers, Arab clan chiefs said holding 'reconciliation talks'
By Haaretz Service Last update - 00:04 11/02/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/952855.html

The heads of the largest Palestinian clans in Hebron met with the Kiryat
Arba local council chief and prominent leaders of the Jewish community in
Hebron on Wednesday in what both sides described as a meeting of
reconciliation, Army Radio reported.

Sheikh Abu-Hader Ja'abri, the head of a prominent Palestinian clan and a
relative of a former mayor of Hebron, and the head of the Abu Sneinah clan,
Haj Akram Abu-Sneinah met with the head of the Kiryat Arba settlement
council, Zvi K'tzubar, and the heads of Jewish settlers in Hebron.

The two sides declared their goal was to restore peace and security to the
city, known to Jews as Hebron and to Palestinians as Al-Halil.

"We don't see you as settlers but as residents," Sheikh Ja'abri, the head of
a prominent clan in Hebron, is quoted as telling his Jewish interolocutors.

"Hebron is ours just as it is yours."At the end of the meeting, which was
attended by the IDF's southern West Bank commander, a spokesperson for the
Hebron settlers said both sides agreed to unit and combat "extremist
elements that seek to sow hatred and destruction in the city."

The Hebron settlers said the talks were conducted in a positive atmosphere.

In response to news of the meeting, Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades, released a leaflet calling for Ja'abri's assassination,
according to Army Radio.