Hebrews in Hebron
"Israel's army sentenced 8 soldiers to 28-day prison terms for refusing orders to help evict two Jewish families from illegally occupied apartments in ....Hebron."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, page 3A, August 7, 2007
These families, who live in a vacant marketplace that settlers say belonged to a Jewish family before the Jordanian takeover in 1948, are among about 500 Jews who live among 150,000 Arabs in Hebron (aka Hevron). Several thousand Israelis also live in nearby Kiryat Arba.
Hebron, the last home and burial place of our ancestors Abraham and Sarah, was also the first capital of David's kingdom, before he conquered Jebus, now Jerusalem. Jews settled there during the British Mandate period, until they were massacred and survivors driven out by Arab terrorists in 1929. Jewish efforts to re-establish a presence in the city (aside from Kiryat Arba) have sparked a conflict with the Olmert government, which may be a harbinger of a much larger conflict over Jewish settlement in all of the West Bank.
Prime Minister Olmert is now meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to jump-start the establishment of a State of Palestine, as supported by the Arab League and the Quartet (1). Although about a million Arabs live in Israel, with all the rights of citizenship, Palestinian leaders are adamant that all Jews must leave the territory they want for their state.
Those who complain of Jewish settlement on "Arab land" should re-read their history books. The League of Nations Mandate, echoing the Balfour Declaration, called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Mandate did not limit Jewish settlement to any part of the land, and the Mandatory Power (Britain) did permit Jews to live in Hebron, East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and other locations in what is now known as the "West Bank." Jews did not settle east of the Jordan River, and in 1922 the British gave that land (most of Palestine, actually) to King Abdullah I to rule.
The United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 called for the establishment of Jewish state in the areas of Jewish majority and an Arab state in those with an Arab majority, but the plan did not call for the expulsion of minority populations from either state. Nevertheless, when Jordan seized the West Bank territory during the 1948 War, all Jews were killed or exiled.
For Jews to live in Hebron or any other part of the West Bank nowadays is no more than a reversion to the pre-1948 situation. There is no reason for the State of Israel to collaborate with the Palestinian Authority in rendering this land "Judenrein" (2) so that an Arab state can be established there. Instead, Israel should insist that the basic law of any future Palestinian state grant Jews the same rights that Arabs enjoy in Israel today.
As noted in previous Glazerbeams (see, for example, July 18 of this year), a Palestinian state in the West Bank could pose a serious security threat to Israel. The alternatives (merging with Israel, endless occupation, expelling the Arab population, etc. ) are also undesirable. Therefore, the Government of Israel should at least demand the right of the settlers to remain in their present homes as a condition to establishment of another Arab state on her border.
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(1) US, Russia, UN and the European Union.
(2) German for "Clean of Jews" ( a Nazi slogan)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, page 3A, August 7, 2007
These families, who live in a vacant marketplace that settlers say belonged to a Jewish family before the Jordanian takeover in 1948, are among about 500 Jews who live among 150,000 Arabs in Hebron (aka Hevron). Several thousand Israelis also live in nearby Kiryat Arba.
Hebron, the last home and burial place of our ancestors Abraham and Sarah, was also the first capital of David's kingdom, before he conquered Jebus, now Jerusalem. Jews settled there during the British Mandate period, until they were massacred and survivors driven out by Arab terrorists in 1929. Jewish efforts to re-establish a presence in the city (aside from Kiryat Arba) have sparked a conflict with the Olmert government, which may be a harbinger of a much larger conflict over Jewish settlement in all of the West Bank.
Prime Minister Olmert is now meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to jump-start the establishment of a State of Palestine, as supported by the Arab League and the Quartet (1). Although about a million Arabs live in Israel, with all the rights of citizenship, Palestinian leaders are adamant that all Jews must leave the territory they want for their state.
Those who complain of Jewish settlement on "Arab land" should re-read their history books. The League of Nations Mandate, echoing the Balfour Declaration, called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Mandate did not limit Jewish settlement to any part of the land, and the Mandatory Power (Britain) did permit Jews to live in Hebron, East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and other locations in what is now known as the "West Bank." Jews did not settle east of the Jordan River, and in 1922 the British gave that land (most of Palestine, actually) to King Abdullah I to rule.
The United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 called for the establishment of Jewish state in the areas of Jewish majority and an Arab state in those with an Arab majority, but the plan did not call for the expulsion of minority populations from either state. Nevertheless, when Jordan seized the West Bank territory during the 1948 War, all Jews were killed or exiled.
For Jews to live in Hebron or any other part of the West Bank nowadays is no more than a reversion to the pre-1948 situation. There is no reason for the State of Israel to collaborate with the Palestinian Authority in rendering this land "Judenrein" (2) so that an Arab state can be established there. Instead, Israel should insist that the basic law of any future Palestinian state grant Jews the same rights that Arabs enjoy in Israel today.
As noted in previous Glazerbeams (see, for example, July 18 of this year), a Palestinian state in the West Bank could pose a serious security threat to Israel. The alternatives (merging with Israel, endless occupation, expelling the Arab population, etc. ) are also undesirable. Therefore, the Government of Israel should at least demand the right of the settlers to remain in their present homes as a condition to establishment of another Arab state on her border.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) US, Russia, UN and the European Union.
(2) German for "Clean of Jews" ( a Nazi slogan)
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 9:48 AM
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