I just got back from the Peace House and I am trying to reach some conclusions.

I watched the “Hilltop Youth” today sitting in the main hall learning Gemorah, where just yesterday they were defending this stronghold and our right to be in Hebron - and Israel itself.

Some younger kids were acting up violently on the road outside, until the adults put an end to their shenanigans.

This evening was calm (though a friend of mine was arrested this morning in another event in Hebron – I happened to actually see that on a video on the internet).

I don’t think the police or the army were ready for yesterday at the Peace House. I suspect they figured that at worst it would be like Amona, where for the most part they got to break Jewish heads freely.

I suspect the police and army understand that if they continue in the direction Barak is forcing them to take, there will be a civil war long before Barak has a chance to lose any more seats than he has already.

I think it’s safe to assume that responsible leadership on both sides spoke today and decided to have the government forces back off before something irreversible happens. I am sure that a unilateral decision like that annoyed Barak, as something irreversible is exactly what he is hoping for.

Will the expulsion actually happen?

Based on yesterday I would say it is slightly less likely.

This won’t be a Gush Katif or Amona. The price for the Peace House is now far higher than the responsible members of the police and IDF are probably willing to pay. But then again, you have irresponsible politicians like Barak, who see this as a way to win Brownie Points from their dwindling number of constituents.

And then you also have members of the police that would be murderous sociopaths today if they hadn’t gotten a uniform which make certain actions socially acceptable. Clearly if one of those is in charge, we can still expect bad things.

A lot remains to be seen before I can draw some proper conclusions which I may try to do in another post another time.