|
|
|
May 30, 2003/Iyar 28 5763, Vol. 55, No. 40
A Jewish right to resettle HebronARIEL NATAN PASKOOn the 28th of Iyar, this year on May 30, we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, the anniversary of the victory in the Six-Day War and the unification of Jerusalem. But another, lesser known day is also celebrated by some on the 29th of Iyar, Yom Hevron, Hebron Day, the anniversary of the liberation of Hebron.Many believe that there are places in Jerusalem where Jews shouldn't go, like the liberated eastern side of the city. They have also been working to convince us that "settlement" activity in eastern Jerusalem is dangerous and have begun using the analogy of Hebron to make their point. They claim that letting "small groups" of Jews move into neighborhoods with Arabs, such as the Jews have done in Hebron, hurts the security situation. The analogy of "small groups" is inaccurate. With Hebron, the media always tells you that there are 500 Jews living among 100,000 or 120,000 Arabs. Not true. What they forget to tell you is that the population figure for the Arabs is for the greater metropolitan area of Hebron. If you include all the Jews living in the same areas, there are close to 10,000 Jews living there. Hebron is a city that the Jewish people have had a special connection to for over 3,500 years, longer in fact than with Jerusalem. Hebron is first mentioned in the book of Genesis, where Abraham is found pitching his tent. Later when Sarah, his wife, dies - in Kiryat Arba, that is, Hebron - he buys a burial cave of Machpela for her. In fact, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah were buried there. Hebron continued to be an important and holy site to Jews. King David established Hebron as his first capital city. Through a host of occupying empires; first the Romans, then the Byzantine, Persian, Arab, Crusader, Muslim, and finally Ottoman-Turks, Jews continued to live in Hebron. After the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, Hebron's Jewish population began to grow. By the 18th century, a large community lived in Hebron, whose main economy was grape growing and wine production. But Arab-Muslims on a religiously inspired rampage killed, converted or drove out many from the Jewish community. In 1929, 700 Jews lived in a city populated by 18,000 people. Then in 1936, the British authorities evacuated the Jewish inhabitants of Hebron. After the Six-Day War in 1967, when the Jews returned to Hebron, they found the old Jewish quarter destroyed and the Jewish cemetery almost obliterated. Jews again looked forward to resettling Hebron. David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, wrote: "The beginnings of Israel's greatest king were in Hebron, the city to which came the first Hebrew (Abraham) about eight hundred years before King David, and we will make a great and awful mistake if we fail to settle Hebron. ... Hebron is worthy to be Jerusalem's sister." Jews have always returned to Jerusalem, their holiest city, and the site of their Temple, and always returned to Hebron, their second holiest city, and the burial place of the Jewish people's founding ancestors. Ariel Natan Pasko is an independent analyst and consultant. His articles can be read at www.geocities.com/ariel_natan_pasko/. |
