Beyond the seventh step
Wednesday we went on a trip to Hebron, the city that was once the cradle of the Jewish people and the center of Judea, before Jerusalem was captured by King David and outshone it.
Most people know that the forefather of the Jews, Abraham, first went to Hebron and bought the cave of Machpela for a large sum of silver in order to bury his wife, Sarah, there and for himself when he died. Later according to tradition this cave became the burial site of his sons who were the Jewish patriachs, Isaac and Jacob and their wives, Rebecca and Leah. It is not surprising therefore that Hebron was considered to be one of the four holy cities in Israel, and that Jews lived there and in the nearby city of Kiryat Arba. Arba means four and it is supposed that this was named for the four couples, including Adam and Eve.
If we fast forward, after the Arab conquest of the Holy Land in the 7th century, Jews were gradually expelled from Hebron and Kiryat Arba disappeared. There were still several hundred Jews living in Hebron in the 1920s when the Arab riots began. In 1929, the Arabs, fomented with anti-Semitic propaganda by the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, revolted, and while British police stood by, attacked the Jewish quarter, killing, raping and maiming. 67 Jews were killed, including the two Rabbis who were the doctor and pharmacist at the Beth Hadassah Hospital, built 1893, who had given free treatment to Jews and Arabs without discrimination. They and their families were murdered and their offices and homes were desecrated and Beth Hadassah was destroyed. In a small museum in the Beth Hadassah, rebuilt in 1985, that is now an apartment block, there are photos of the survivors whose fingers and hands were hacked off. The Arabs in Hebron have always been known for their vicious hatred of Jews. When they wanted the riot to cease the British stepped in and fired a few shots and it stopped, but by then it was too late. The British then removed the remaining Jews to Jerusalem and there were no Jews in Hebron, after millenia, until the area was recaptured by the IDF in 1967 and Jews began to return to Hebron in the 1970s and Kiryat Arba was reestablished.
When Herod was King of Israel, he had an edifice complex and built cities, such as Caesarea, he expanded the Temple in Jerusalem, built Palaces at Masada and Herodion, and also built an edifice over the cave of Machpela in Hebron. This was similar in appearance, but much smaller than the Temple in Jerusalem. Later rulers expanded the building, particularly the Turks, and then the Arabs took over the complex, ousted all Jewish connection and turned it into a Mosque, since they regard Abraham as their forefather (copycats). The entrance stairway was on the right of the Herodian building, and there was gate with a guard on the seventh step. Jews were not allowed to go beyond the seventh step for a period of 700 years! As a result they prayed at the outside of the building nearby, and that area is still used by Orthodox Jews today and is stained black by the use of candles for centuries.
When I learned about this indignity visited upon our people by the cruel Arabs when I was a teenager, I was personally affronted, and I vowed that one day I would go beyond that seventh step. Today I realized that ambition. The steps, being so old are now very worn and the Israelis have moved the entrance to the other side of the building and put in new steps. But, going beyond that seventh step was a psychological experience.
When the IDF captured the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Caves of Machpela in Hebron, Moshe Dayan did an incredible thing, he handed control of them over to the Muslim religious organization, the Waqf. I suppose he thought they would show their gratitude by being magnanimous. The outcome was of course that Jews were restricted from entering and praying at both sites. Eventually pressure prevailed and the Jews claimed nearly half of the building in Hebron, and we were able to go inside and visit several synagogues as well as the sites revered as the burial places of the patriarchs, although they are actually believed to be in the caves beneath the structure, but are not accessible because noone is allowed down there. The Mosque is also closed off to Jews.
The precise relationship of Jews and Arabs in Hebron was negotiated at Wye Plantation, Maryland, in 1998 by PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasir Arafat, according to which Israel received ca. 15% of the divided city. There have been numerous terrorist acts by the Palestinians, such as the shooting of 7 month old Shalhevet Pass who was sitting in her wheelchair and was deliberately shot by a sniper, and the muder of 9 Israelis. Baruch Goldstein also carried out a massacre of Arabs praying in the Machpela mosque in 1994.
We visited the two small areas of Jewish resettlement, where ca. 500 Jews reside in a population of ca. 135,000 Arabs. They are guarded by a contingent of IDF soldiers and police. We saw a small group of people dressed in blue uniforms with red insignia reading TIPH, or Temporary International Presence in Hebron. They come from 6 countries, three Scandinavian, Turkey, France and Switzerland, all great friends of Israel (?). Although unarmed, their job is to monitor the agreement and make sure that there are no violations. It seemed to me that their presence there was essentially useless.
While we were transiting Hebron in our bus we saw a small crowd of well-dressed gentleman and some Israeli police cars nearby. From the newspaper this morning we learn that it was a delegation of diplomats including the Chilean FM who were touring with a PA guide, but this had not been cleared with the IDF, and the tour was consequently stopped.
Clearly the Jews who live in Hebron are religious fundamentalists and the Arabs hate them. But, the Israeli Govt. has just allowed two groups of 350 armed Palestinian police under PA control to enter Hebron and start to patrol the Arab areas. They are supposedly there to maintain law and order and particularly to remove any Hamas extremists. This may seem positive, but one wonders how long it will be before their guns will be used against the Jewish minority.
Visiting Hebron was not exactly pleasant, the bus we used was armoured and had double bulletproof windows, through which you could hardly see anything. The feeling in most places was grim and there were hardly any people on the streets, Jews or Arabs. This is a very unsettled area, and one feels that the instability can erupt into violence at any moment. Still I'm very glad that I went to finally go beyond the seventh step.
Most people know that the forefather of the Jews, Abraham, first went to Hebron and bought the cave of Machpela for a large sum of silver in order to bury his wife, Sarah, there and for himself when he died. Later according to tradition this cave became the burial site of his sons who were the Jewish patriachs, Isaac and Jacob and their wives, Rebecca and Leah. It is not surprising therefore that Hebron was considered to be one of the four holy cities in Israel, and that Jews lived there and in the nearby city of Kiryat Arba. Arba means four and it is supposed that this was named for the four couples, including Adam and Eve.
If we fast forward, after the Arab conquest of the Holy Land in the 7th century, Jews were gradually expelled from Hebron and Kiryat Arba disappeared. There were still several hundred Jews living in Hebron in the 1920s when the Arab riots began. In 1929, the Arabs, fomented with anti-Semitic propaganda by the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, revolted, and while British police stood by, attacked the Jewish quarter, killing, raping and maiming. 67 Jews were killed, including the two Rabbis who were the doctor and pharmacist at the Beth Hadassah Hospital, built 1893, who had given free treatment to Jews and Arabs without discrimination. They and their families were murdered and their offices and homes were desecrated and Beth Hadassah was destroyed. In a small museum in the Beth Hadassah, rebuilt in 1985, that is now an apartment block, there are photos of the survivors whose fingers and hands were hacked off. The Arabs in Hebron have always been known for their vicious hatred of Jews. When they wanted the riot to cease the British stepped in and fired a few shots and it stopped, but by then it was too late. The British then removed the remaining Jews to Jerusalem and there were no Jews in Hebron, after millenia, until the area was recaptured by the IDF in 1967 and Jews began to return to Hebron in the 1970s and Kiryat Arba was reestablished.
When Herod was King of Israel, he had an edifice complex and built cities, such as Caesarea, he expanded the Temple in Jerusalem, built Palaces at Masada and Herodion, and also built an edifice over the cave of Machpela in Hebron. This was similar in appearance, but much smaller than the Temple in Jerusalem. Later rulers expanded the building, particularly the Turks, and then the Arabs took over the complex, ousted all Jewish connection and turned it into a Mosque, since they regard Abraham as their forefather (copycats). The entrance stairway was on the right of the Herodian building, and there was gate with a guard on the seventh step. Jews were not allowed to go beyond the seventh step for a period of 700 years! As a result they prayed at the outside of the building nearby, and that area is still used by Orthodox Jews today and is stained black by the use of candles for centuries.
When I learned about this indignity visited upon our people by the cruel Arabs when I was a teenager, I was personally affronted, and I vowed that one day I would go beyond that seventh step. Today I realized that ambition. The steps, being so old are now very worn and the Israelis have moved the entrance to the other side of the building and put in new steps. But, going beyond that seventh step was a psychological experience.
When the IDF captured the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Caves of Machpela in Hebron, Moshe Dayan did an incredible thing, he handed control of them over to the Muslim religious organization, the Waqf. I suppose he thought they would show their gratitude by being magnanimous. The outcome was of course that Jews were restricted from entering and praying at both sites. Eventually pressure prevailed and the Jews claimed nearly half of the building in Hebron, and we were able to go inside and visit several synagogues as well as the sites revered as the burial places of the patriarchs, although they are actually believed to be in the caves beneath the structure, but are not accessible because noone is allowed down there. The Mosque is also closed off to Jews.
The precise relationship of Jews and Arabs in Hebron was negotiated at Wye Plantation, Maryland, in 1998 by PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasir Arafat, according to which Israel received ca. 15% of the divided city. There have been numerous terrorist acts by the Palestinians, such as the shooting of 7 month old Shalhevet Pass who was sitting in her wheelchair and was deliberately shot by a sniper, and the muder of 9 Israelis. Baruch Goldstein also carried out a massacre of Arabs praying in the Machpela mosque in 1994.
We visited the two small areas of Jewish resettlement, where ca. 500 Jews reside in a population of ca. 135,000 Arabs. They are guarded by a contingent of IDF soldiers and police. We saw a small group of people dressed in blue uniforms with red insignia reading TIPH, or Temporary International Presence in Hebron. They come from 6 countries, three Scandinavian, Turkey, France and Switzerland, all great friends of Israel (?). Although unarmed, their job is to monitor the agreement and make sure that there are no violations. It seemed to me that their presence there was essentially useless.
While we were transiting Hebron in our bus we saw a small crowd of well-dressed gentleman and some Israeli police cars nearby. From the newspaper this morning we learn that it was a delegation of diplomats including the Chilean FM who were touring with a PA guide, but this had not been cleared with the IDF, and the tour was consequently stopped.
Clearly the Jews who live in Hebron are religious fundamentalists and the Arabs hate them. But, the Israeli Govt. has just allowed two groups of 350 armed Palestinian police under PA control to enter Hebron and start to patrol the Arab areas. They are supposedly there to maintain law and order and particularly to remove any Hamas extremists. This may seem positive, but one wonders how long it will be before their guns will be used against the Jewish minority.
Visiting Hebron was not exactly pleasant, the bus we used was armoured and had double bulletproof windows, through which you could hardly see anything. The feeling in most places was grim and there were hardly any people on the streets, Jews or Arabs. This is a very unsettled area, and one feels that the instability can erupt into violence at any moment. Still I'm very glad that I went to finally go beyond the seventh step.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:08 AM
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