House of Contention
- March 2007: A group of Israeli settlers takes over a building in downtown Hebron, claiming that it was legally purchased from its Palestinian owner. This claim soon becomes suspect, with Israel's police arguing that the supposed sale document was forged; the building becomes known in Israel as "the House of Contention".
- November 16, 2008: After months of legal wrangling and postponements, Israel's Supreme Court rules that the settlers must evacuate the building within three days, and turn it over to the State of Israel, pending a final ruling on the ownership question. The court authorizes the State to use force if the settlers refuse to comply.
- November/December 2008: The Hebron settlers and their supporters refuse to recognize the Court ruling and pledge to resist if the army tries to evict them. As part of an effort to bully the Israeli government into not implementing the Court order, Jewish settlers in Hebron step up attacks against Palestinians and Israeli troops, and desecrate a mosque. Haaretz refers to settler actions as "Jewish terrorism".
- December 4, 2008: Israel evacuates the "House of Contention" by force, after 3 weeks of negotiations fail to produce a voluntary evacuation. Extremist settlers respond by going on a rampage, carrying out what Haaretz journalist Avi Issacharoff terms "a pogrom in the worst sense of the word".
