Struggle for the Heart of an Ancient City
March 8, 2005 in Hebron (Al Khalil in Arabic)
The main rode to Hebron that Palestinians have taken for years is blocked, so we have to take an alternate route. We cross the Israeli military checkpoint that blocks the Southern entrance to Bethlehem. We pass a Palestinian Refugee Camp, and past clusters of Israeli settlements collectively known as the Gush Etzion block, south of Bethlehem. We see how new Israeli settlements start out as illegal outposts of a few rows of mobile homes, and over time turn into Southwest style villa townhouses that would fit right in if we were in Southern California. Then there are the military bases taking up even more West Bank land to guard the settlements.
We arrive at one of the first, and one of the most ideologically right wing settlements in the West Bank, Kiryat Arba'a. We pass the checkpoint, and are allowed inside past the electric fence into the heart of this settlement of 6,500 people. It is the largest in the central Hebron area, but there are now 5 other Jewish enclaves within the Old City with an additional 400-500 Jewish Settlers: Tel Rumeida, Beit Hadassa, Beit Romano, Abraham Avion, and the Gutnic Center. They are supported by between 1500 to 2000 Israeli soldiers.
In Central Hebron, conflicts with the native Palestinian population of
130,000 include land confiscation and historic house demolitions, which
are taking place to create a corridor linking up the 5 Jewish enclaves and
the larger settlement of Kiryat Arba'a. This will create a settler
complex to include the Ibrahim Mosque (Tomb of Abraham), one of the
holiest sites to Muslims and Jews, as well as Christians.
In Kiryat Arba'a, we disembark our bus, and head inside a community
center. There we meet Mr. Elyakim Ha'itzni, an attorney, and one of the
original founders of the settler movement in the West Bank and Gaza.
There are now more than 270,000 settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, more
than 400,000 if you include East Jerusalem. "I hope we are a thorn in
their sides," remarks Mr. Ha'itzni, when he talks about those who oppose
the settling of what he calls, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. "Zionism means
bringing Jews to the land of Israel. This is really our homeland."
Mr. Ha'itzni was born in Kiel, Germany in 1926. In 1938, he escaped
Germany and moved to Jerusalem. Many of his family members perished in
the Holocaust. He was a combatant and was injured in the 1948 war, which
he calls "the War of Liberation".
After Israel's independence, Mr. Ha'itzni became a lawyer in Tel Aviv. In
1967 after the 6 day war, he and others moved quickly to establish
settlements on the ground in the newly conquered territories "before the
army evacuates."
It is true that both Jews and Arabs have had a historical presence in
Hebron. For centuries, there was always a small Jewish population, which
decreased dramatically after a 1929 Arab Hebronite massacre of 69
Hebronite Jews. 1967 brought an opportunity for settlers like Mr.
Ha'itzni to re-establish a Jewish presence here. He left his law practice
in Tel Aviv, and moved to Hebron, along with Rabbi Levinger, to establish
Kiryat Arba'a.
He voices his frustration with current efforts to implement the Roadmap
Peace Plan based on a Two State Solution, roughly based on UN resolutions
242 and 338:
"Jews are not being allowed to live in Judea. There is Jewish
collaboration to ethnically cleanse Judea."
He cites 120 years of Arab rejection and violence against Israel, "ever
since 1882, and the first wave of Jewish Oylim." Mr. Ha'itzni says the
Arabs will only be satisfied with "the Blue Line," that is, the
Mediterranean Sea.
"As long as one house exists in Tel Aviv with a Jewish flag, the Arabs
will not be satisfied. . . Before the British mandate, there were simply
Arabs. After the British mandate, it was suddenly called Palestine, and
the Arabs discovered that they were really Palestinians."
According to Ha'itzni, "everything began in the wake of WWI. The British
were aligned with Emir Abdullah of Transjordan, and "Jews were being kept
out. There were Jews wanting to settle in Judea and Samaria who were
subsequently murdered by Hitler."
He calls Yasser Arafat a "terrorist, a blood stained murderer . . . In the
year 1964 the PLO was founded on the Mount of Olives in order to bring
back the refugees. . . Any territories given to the Palestinians will be a
springboard for them to take the rest." He considers Arafat, and the new
Palestinian leader Mahmood Abbas (Abu Mazen) "the same."
Mr. Ha'itzni says that Jordan is the Palestinian State. "Of all the Arab
nations, Jordan is the lesser bad. We need Jordan as the buffer state."
In reference to Ariel Sharon's unilateral Gaza Disengagement Plan, he
states, "anything the Jews build ultimately is taken from them." He
opposes Sharon's plan for withdrawing settlers from Gush Katif, the large
settlement block that takes up a third of the beachfront of Gaza, as well
as from the other 21 Gaza settlements that house 8,000 settlers in 40% of
the Gaza Strip. "This may break Israel apart . . . Israel is being
destabilized by the Bush Administration . . . Bush is the worse
administration we have ever had. . . Madeline Albright hated her Jewish
roots. . . Sharon is a peace criminal . . . 100-200 people will prevent
disengagement from Gaza with our own bodies . . . the younger generation
is even more dedicated than are we . . . Anti-Semitism is returning
big-time. . . Strife is good for the blood circulation. . . Thomas
Friedman is pro-Arab . . . Natan Sharansky speaks out about democracy. . .
There is one Palestinian State, and it is called Jordan," etc.
After our visit with Elyakim Ha'itzni, we visit the gravesite of Dr.
Baruch Goldstein. Dr. Goldstein was a physician born and raised in
Brooklyn who became a Kiryat Arba'a settler. In 1994, he opened fire on
Muslims worshiping at the mosque of Ibrahim, killing 29 worshippers and
injuring more than 100, before he was bludgeoned to death by the crowd.
In Kiryat Arba'a he is treated as a hero. His grave is close to a
memorial honoring Rabbi Meir Kahane, of the radical Jewish Defense League.
The JDL was implicated in several bombings, including the offices of the
Arab-American Anti- Discrimination Committee in Los Angeles. Meir Kahane
was assassinated by an Egyptian assailant in New York City.
Next we pass outside the fences of Kiryat Arba'a, past destroyed ancient
Palestinian homes and into downtown Hebron, which looks like a ghost-town.
Yesterday, two Israeli soldiers were shot, so now the entire center of
the city is under curfew. Palestinians cannot leave their homes. We
Western tourists can leave the bus, past the soldiers who are enforcing
the curfew and into the Jewish Synagogue part of the Tomb of Abraham (Tomb
of the Patriarchs). Since the Baruch Goldstein shooting, the building has
been divided into two parts, a synagogue and a mosque. Prior to 1994,
Muslims and Jews had separate visiting hours, but all sides had access to
the whole shrine. Not so today. In fact, we are only able to visit the
Jewish side of the shrine due to the curfew.
We are also planning to visit the offices of Christian Peacemaker Teams in
Hebron. They are just down the street, but we cannot visit them because
of the curfew. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) are an initiative of the
historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers)
with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant
denominations. CPT has a presence in Hebron and also the Village of
At-Tuwani south of here. They also have a presence in Iraq and other hot
spots in the world.
Now it is time to leave the Old City of Hebron, but we cannot; all of the
roads out of Hebron are blocked because of the curfew. The only way out
for us it to go back through the Kiryat Arba'a settlement. We are cleared
through the checkpoint, but are blocked in front by a large van. Its
driver has noticed that our bus driver is an Arab. Finally, after further
negotiation, he moves out of the way, and we are allowed to pass. We have
been besieged for only ten minutes, but it educates us on how the
Palestinian inhabitants of central Hebron live. They are routinely
besieged for hours, to days, to weeks at a time.
Next, Part 6, a visit with Terre des Hommes and Medicins son Fronteres in
Hebron, and an interview with a survivor of the siege of the Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem in April, 2002.
