Friday, November 18, 2011

Lies Palestinians Tell About Our City, Hebron-Holy Sites Closed Now to Jews

Nadene Goldfoot
Hebron has been a Jewish city  since the creation of Judaism by Abraham, who had bought the Mearat Hamachpela or Tomb of the Patriarchs.   This is recorded in  the Torah.  Thousands want to pray at the Meara.  David Wilder of Arutz Sheva writes about its history for this timely Shabbat Hevron.  Jews have lived there continuously for thousands of years, which is so sad considering that the Muslims have now grabbed Jewish religious sites  and are preventing Jews access. It is our ancient city in Judah and is 18 miles south of Jerusalem. 

Abraham had bought the Cave of Machpelah  from the Hittites so he could bury his wife, Sarah, and the tomb now has a mosque built over it, as that is what Muslims seem to do when they take someone's land, either right on or very near.    Hebron became a city of refuge under Joshua.

The Hittites disappeared along with many other ancient peoples.  Their main kingdom in existence from the 15th century BCE fell in  1200.  Smaller groups in N. Syria and around the Euphrates River were finally overrun by the Armenians and the Assyrians.  Jews are the only ones that remain.  Esau, the son of Isaac and twin of Jacob,  had taken wives from the Hittites.  They were one of 7 peoples that the Israelites had conquered in Canaan.  King David had Hittite warriors and his son Solomon had Hitttie wives, so one can say that some were integrated into the Jewish society after their kingdom ended.  They were not killed or necessarily exiled by the Jews. 

King David (1,000 BCE- 960 BCE) ruled for over seven years from Hebron before moving to Jerusalem..  For proof, archaeologists have found artifacts dating to the era of our Patriarch Abraham that are 2,700 years old inscribed with the word "Hevron" in ancient Hebrew.  (the b and the v are the same letter using the bet/vet.)  Along with Jerusalem, Tiberias and Safed, it was one of the four sacred towns for Jews. 

By 1890 there were 1,500 Jews living there with yeshivot and religious schools.  The great Lithuanian yeshival of Slobodka was transferred there in 1925. 

In August 1929, Arabs rioted against Jews suddenly, killing 67 and wounding 70 in a Jewish population of  700.  Survivors were then exiled from the city by the British, of all people, who held the reins then for the League of Nations.  In 1931  30 Jewish families returned, but there were more Arab riots in 1936, and the Jews were exiled again. 

Jews entered their city again after the 1967 War when Israel won over many Arab countries that had attacked them.  At that time the population of Arabs had grown to 38,310.  Jews were not occupiers, they were returnees to their homes after forcible exile of 38 years.  1968 was the year Jews koshered a kitchen in the Park Hotel when Jews had their first Pesach in decades at home. 

Moshe Dayan, Minister of Defense, must have been thinking of his defense problems because he told his people to live in the Hebron militry compound which was several kilometers outside the center of the city.  It had originally been a British police station, hardly homelike.  It was either live there or leave entirely, as he could not defend them in Hebron at that time.  So they lived in there for 2 1/2 years until they created the suburb of Kiryat Arba. 

People kept trying to return to the 450 year old Jewish Quarter of Beit Hadassah, but had problems.  In 1979 with Menachem Begin, Prime Minister, 10 women and 40 children set up housekeeping in the basement of the old medical center of Beit Hadassah in the very middle of the city.  The next year 6 men were murdered outside Beit Hadassah.  Then they were given the green light of official Israeli recognition of being there as a Jewish community.  By 1988 there were 3,700 Jews in Kiryat Arba. 

Hebron now has 1,000 plus of almost 100 families with a yeshiva for 250 post-high school student.  They'd have more but there isn't any more apartments available.  Thousands of Jews have been coming there to visit each year.  People come from all over the world besides Israel.  The total population of Hebron is 163,146 and is under the control of Abbas of the Palestinian Authority.  75% are Muslim, 17% Jewish and 8% Christians and others making up Hebron.  Altogether, there are 350,000 Jews living in Judea-Samaria and 210,00 Jews living in East Jerusalem. 

Jordan messed things up for us by illegally occupying Judea with Hebron from 1948 to 1967, a total of 19 years,  keeping Jews out but allowing Arabs to propagate.  The UN is against Israel in saying that Jews living here again is an illegal settlement.  Jews say they are only 3% of Hebron's population.  The land is divided into two areas; H1 and H2.  H2 is 20% with H1 being 80% of the land.  To protect the 3%, Israel is defending  H1 where it lies. 

The mayor is an Arab, Mustepha Natsche.  He told visitors that Jews were not allowed to pray at Ma'arat Hamachpela, the 2nd holiest site to Jews in the whole world.  He went on to tell them that it is a mosque, and only Muslims are allowed to pray there.  They have now claimed a Jewish site as a mosque!  Jews and Christians cannot pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs either, because it is not a church or a synagogue, but is a mosque, and again, only Muslims are allowed there. 

To top off this horror, Israel has put Hebron on its list of Heritage Sites with UNESCO, and the Palestinians are claiming it as Muslim, which UNESCO goes along with.  We're fighting two battles here; constant missiles and mortars from Gaza and now the lies about our teeny land just claimed for the Muslims through downright detestable lying.  We have a Russian roulette situation with missiles raining down on Southern Israel from Gaza but how do we fight people willing to believe such lies:  only with education and the hope that people will be willing to learn.  Denying our presence in this Holy Land and right to our Jewish Homeland has already been decided in 1948.  We shouldn't have to keep reiterating our history as proof that it is our homeland over and over again because of others who covet what is precious to us.  Actually, they don't really want these places; they just want to keep us away and out of the country completely.  Otherwise they would continue sharing, like Israel does with Jewish religious sites. 

Resource Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com by David Wilder, Hevron
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Hebron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea
http://www.hebron.com/english/article.php?id=632
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank


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