Judea lives!
We went on a coach trip (tiyul) to Herodion via the settlements of Gush Etzion, with a mixed group of Russian and English speaking immigrants, each with our separate guides. This is the area of Judea, south of Jerusalem, from where the Jews originated in Biblical times. We approached the area thru the valleys of Ayalon and Elah, both of which are mentioned in the Bible and are famous for historic battles, the latter where David slew Goliath.
After the valley of Elah we approached Kfar Etzion thru a desolate landscape. Kfar Etzion is the nucleus for the Gush Etzion cluster of settlements that were originally 4 kibbutzim that began to be settled in 1927 on land largely acquired by the Jewish Agency (Keren Kayemet Leyisrael) for Jewish settlement. The other three settlements were Masuoth Yitzhak, Revidim and Ein Tzurim. Since this area is Judea it was not surprising that Jews should want to re-settle there, nearly 2000 years after it had been captured and they were expelled by the Romans ("Judea est capta"). It was then conquered in turn by the Arabs and eventually by the British in 1918. When the Jews returned, not only did they have to contend with attacks by hostile Arabs, but the soil and conditions were extremely difficult for agriculture. By 1948 there were the four settlements of Gush Etzion, that were named after one of the founders, a Mr. Holtzman (Holtz and Etz mean wood in German and Hebrew, respectively).
In the War of Independence in 1947, when Jerusalem was surrounded and cut-off from the rest of the country, the settlements of Gush Etzion were in turn cut-off from Jerusalem and besieged by a huge Arab majority. Altogether there were several hundred Jewish defenders (most women and all children had been evacuated to Jerusalem) against thousands of irregular Arab fighters and Arab regular forces (Jordanian Arab Legion and some Egyptian soldiers).
On the night of January 15, 1948 a group of 35 Jewish volunteers (the "lamed hey") lead by Danny Maas, left Jerusalem heavily laden with arms and supplies for Kfar Etzion. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances they left too late and were caught in the dawn just short of Kfar Etzion. They were surrounded and after a fierce 7 hour battle were defeated, massacred and mutilated. Their bodies were retrieved by the British and what was left of them was buried in Kfar Etzion. Subsequently Kfar Etzion itself fell on 13th May, 1948, just before the declaration of Israeli independence, and the 240 defenders were massacred (several were saved by the intervention of Jordanian Legion officers, but the number is hard to confirm). The Arabs obliterated the existence of Kfar Etzion down to the foundations of the buildings, they uprooted all their trees and not a trace of its existence remained.
After 1967, some of the children who had been evacuated to Jerusalem in 1947 returned and resettled Kfar Etzion, and today it is a fluourishing settlement. However it remains remote and surrounded by hostile Arab villages in difficult agricultural terrain. Just over the ridge from Kfar Etzion closer to Jerusalem are the new settlements of Efrat and Alon Shvut. The latter is named after the lone oak tree nearby that the Arabs did not destroy ("Alon Shvut" means "redeemed oak"). Since there are thousands of houses there and many trees, the view is immediately improved. Further west is the settlement of Tekoah and nearby some other smaller ones.
We were taken to the smallest settlement called Sde Bar (wild field), which does not appear on most maps. This unorthodox community was founded about 10 years ago by a group of disaffected teenagers, kids from broken homes and orphans (with some government support and assistance). They set their own rules and their school is open form with no set hours. Everyone is required to work, mostly with goats, and they sell goat cheese. There are now 50-60 members and they seem to be succeeding. They live right in the shadow of Herodion.
Herodian itself is a palace built by Herod in the hills right on the edge of the Judean desert. It's characteristic shape is a cone with the top sliced off, and it can be seen for many miles around (photo). It was built after several attempts on Herod's life. He was hated by his Jewish subjects who regarded him as a Roman vassal, and the revolt against him triggered the Roman invasion. He constructed Herodion as an unscalable fortress by building (using slaves) a mountain around it. What is left today is only the ruins of a once great edifice, and on the surrounding grounds he built another palace with a huge swimming pool, quite a feat in the desert. Of course, in Herodion itself there was a Roman bathhouse as well as other amenities. He also built the city of Casearea and the fortress of Masada. His subjects regarded his building mania as excessive and wasteful and the Romans did not appreciate it when he rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem on a magnificent scale that rivalled Rome itself.
Inside Herodion there were huge cisterns to collect water, and since the limestone rock was so soft, the later rebels cut tunnels through it, and we descended thru them. The site of Herod's burial has long been a mystery, since one would have expected him to constuct a huge magnificent tomb, and none has been found. Recently a small excavation near the site of the exit of some of the tunnels lead to a find that has now been identified as his tomb. It was hidden in the side of the Herodion cone and was quite modest (Josephus says that he was buried at Herodion). But, the rebels apparently found it long ago and destroyed all evidence of his presence.
The current Israeli Government asserts that it will give 98% of the West Bank to the Palestinians, although it is difficult to see how that would be possible when there are so many settlements and Jews living in Judea. The number now is in the tens of thousands and almost certainly exceeds that of the Arab villagers, although the city of Bethlehem is also nearby. To extricate the Jews from here would be almost impossible, given how difficult it was to remove the Jewish settlements from Gaza when there were only ca. 8,000 settlers there. Note that throughout modern history the Arabs have striven to remove or kill all the Jews from their midst while the Jews, currently with military control, have not disturbed the Arab settlements in this (and other) areas. Such is the difference between us and them, we are prepared to coexist and they are not.
On the way back, we took the new road that bypasses Bethlehem to the south and then enters Jerusalem at the new Har Homa neighborhood. The extent of building is quite impressive and looks as it it could be well defended, as most Israeli buildings do (and need to be).
One final point, our bus driver was named Khaled, of the tribe that lived in Uhm Khaled, that was an Arab village on the site of Netanya. This land was bought by the KKL in the 1920's and the Sheikh of Umm Khaled who sold his land in exchange for money and other land told the Jewish representatives, "we have been expecting you for hundreds of years."
After the valley of Elah we approached Kfar Etzion thru a desolate landscape. Kfar Etzion is the nucleus for the Gush Etzion cluster of settlements that were originally 4 kibbutzim that began to be settled in 1927 on land largely acquired by the Jewish Agency (Keren Kayemet Leyisrael) for Jewish settlement. The other three settlements were Masuoth Yitzhak, Revidim and Ein Tzurim. Since this area is Judea it was not surprising that Jews should want to re-settle there, nearly 2000 years after it had been captured and they were expelled by the Romans ("Judea est capta"). It was then conquered in turn by the Arabs and eventually by the British in 1918. When the Jews returned, not only did they have to contend with attacks by hostile Arabs, but the soil and conditions were extremely difficult for agriculture. By 1948 there were the four settlements of Gush Etzion, that were named after one of the founders, a Mr. Holtzman (Holtz and Etz mean wood in German and Hebrew, respectively).
In the War of Independence in 1947, when Jerusalem was surrounded and cut-off from the rest of the country, the settlements of Gush Etzion were in turn cut-off from Jerusalem and besieged by a huge Arab majority. Altogether there were several hundred Jewish defenders (most women and all children had been evacuated to Jerusalem) against thousands of irregular Arab fighters and Arab regular forces (Jordanian Arab Legion and some Egyptian soldiers).
On the night of January 15, 1948 a group of 35 Jewish volunteers (the "lamed hey") lead by Danny Maas, left Jerusalem heavily laden with arms and supplies for Kfar Etzion. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances they left too late and were caught in the dawn just short of Kfar Etzion. They were surrounded and after a fierce 7 hour battle were defeated, massacred and mutilated. Their bodies were retrieved by the British and what was left of them was buried in Kfar Etzion. Subsequently Kfar Etzion itself fell on 13th May, 1948, just before the declaration of Israeli independence, and the 240 defenders were massacred (several were saved by the intervention of Jordanian Legion officers, but the number is hard to confirm). The Arabs obliterated the existence of Kfar Etzion down to the foundations of the buildings, they uprooted all their trees and not a trace of its existence remained.
After 1967, some of the children who had been evacuated to Jerusalem in 1947 returned and resettled Kfar Etzion, and today it is a fluourishing settlement. However it remains remote and surrounded by hostile Arab villages in difficult agricultural terrain. Just over the ridge from Kfar Etzion closer to Jerusalem are the new settlements of Efrat and Alon Shvut. The latter is named after the lone oak tree nearby that the Arabs did not destroy ("Alon Shvut" means "redeemed oak"). Since there are thousands of houses there and many trees, the view is immediately improved. Further west is the settlement of Tekoah and nearby some other smaller ones.
We were taken to the smallest settlement called Sde Bar (wild field), which does not appear on most maps. This unorthodox community was founded about 10 years ago by a group of disaffected teenagers, kids from broken homes and orphans (with some government support and assistance). They set their own rules and their school is open form with no set hours. Everyone is required to work, mostly with goats, and they sell goat cheese. There are now 50-60 members and they seem to be succeeding. They live right in the shadow of Herodion.
Herodian itself is a palace built by Herod in the hills right on the edge of the Judean desert. It's characteristic shape is a cone with the top sliced off, and it can be seen for many miles around (photo). It was built after several attempts on Herod's life. He was hated by his Jewish subjects who regarded him as a Roman vassal, and the revolt against him triggered the Roman invasion. He constructed Herodion as an unscalable fortress by building (using slaves) a mountain around it. What is left today is only the ruins of a once great edifice, and on the surrounding grounds he built another palace with a huge swimming pool, quite a feat in the desert. Of course, in Herodion itself there was a Roman bathhouse as well as other amenities. He also built the city of Casearea and the fortress of Masada. His subjects regarded his building mania as excessive and wasteful and the Romans did not appreciate it when he rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem on a magnificent scale that rivalled Rome itself.
Inside Herodion there were huge cisterns to collect water, and since the limestone rock was so soft, the later rebels cut tunnels through it, and we descended thru them. The site of Herod's burial has long been a mystery, since one would have expected him to constuct a huge magnificent tomb, and none has been found. Recently a small excavation near the site of the exit of some of the tunnels lead to a find that has now been identified as his tomb. It was hidden in the side of the Herodion cone and was quite modest (Josephus says that he was buried at Herodion). But, the rebels apparently found it long ago and destroyed all evidence of his presence.
The current Israeli Government asserts that it will give 98% of the West Bank to the Palestinians, although it is difficult to see how that would be possible when there are so many settlements and Jews living in Judea. The number now is in the tens of thousands and almost certainly exceeds that of the Arab villagers, although the city of Bethlehem is also nearby. To extricate the Jews from here would be almost impossible, given how difficult it was to remove the Jewish settlements from Gaza when there were only ca. 8,000 settlers there. Note that throughout modern history the Arabs have striven to remove or kill all the Jews from their midst while the Jews, currently with military control, have not disturbed the Arab settlements in this (and other) areas. Such is the difference between us and them, we are prepared to coexist and they are not.
On the way back, we took the new road that bypasses Bethlehem to the south and then enters Jerusalem at the new Har Homa neighborhood. The extent of building is quite impressive and looks as it it could be well defended, as most Israeli buildings do (and need to be).
One final point, our bus driver was named Khaled, of the tribe that lived in Uhm Khaled, that was an Arab village on the site of Netanya. This land was bought by the KKL in the 1920's and the Sheikh of Umm Khaled who sold his land in exchange for money and other land told the Jewish representatives, "we have been expecting you for hundreds of years."
posted by Jack Cohen at 12:13 PM
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