Judea Magazine, No. 1.1
Hebron Etzion
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JUDEA ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE Vol.1, No.1 Tevet-Shvat 5753/Jan-Feb 1993
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Contents: BUILDING A COMMUNITY
- Real Lives: This Land is Our Land
- A Brief History of the Etzion Bloc
- The Temple Mount is Ours: A Hannukah Story
- Zionism Makes Facts (and Ignores the Intifada):
Five Years of Jewish Settlement
- Devorah: Coming of Age on the Frontier
- The Ancient City of Sussiya
- A Directory of Jewish Towns and Villages in Judea
- Jewish Aboriginal Rights
- The Jewish Return to Judea
- The Jewish Destiny
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REAL LIVES: THIS LAND IS OUR LAND
Bob Wylie, _Weekend Guardian_, 6-7 June 1992
Oren Kessler lives in Tekoa. He is an Israeli settler. Tekoa is
one of around 160 settlements -- with a combined population nearing
100,000 -- that pepper the West Bank lands captured by Israel in the
1967 Israeli-Arab War and occupied ever since. Kessler is from New
York, where his father was a well-known trial lawyer, prominent in the
Sixties civil rights movement. Kessler first visited Israel while at
high school and later volunteered in the 1973 war. He emigrated in
1975 which he counts as "the beginning of a long romance with this
country." The Kesslers have two boys, Nadav, 9 and Asa, 6, and a
two-year-old girl, Eliana.
"You're probably here to ask me what we are doing out here,
throwing people off their land. Well we are not a bunch of Wild West
cowboys killing Indians and stealing their land." If they were
cowboys, he says, they would have taken the fertile land in the
valleys, not the windswept hilltops. "I have not made a compromise
with my morals to live here," says Kessler. So why is he here? Of
course there are the advantages of life in a rural community of 140 or
so families. But that is not his bottom line. A belief that he is
walking in history's footsteps is. "The Jews came here literally out
of the gas ovens to create a country against all odds...a tiny corner
of the world not even big enough to take the name on a world map."
Wherever the Jews were before they had to say was temporary. Those
days are over -- the Jews are returning to Israel. "I am proud to be
a part of this. For my grandfather it was a dream to visit Jerusalem
and now we have it right in our hands....The Jews are not moving away
from here. They have to understand that." He went to the outside
door to bring the traditional Mezzuzah -- a parchment paper in a small
container -- attached to the door frame. He asserted that the
widespread existance of such mezzuzahs in local Hebron was proof of
Jewish inhabitance and carefully unrolling the parchment said: "You
know what it says here...The Guardians of the Gates of Israel." That
is how he sees it.
Tekoa Mushroom Farm Ltd., the family business built up by Kessler
and his wife from half a million dollars investment, embodies that
political commitment. It was Mira Kessler's idea. The impressive
plant -- Tekoa's biggest business -- now employs 13 people, among them
Natalie Gould, originally from Childwall in Liverpool and part of
Tekoa's sizeable English community. The farm produces 100 tons of
exotic mushrooms per year, mostly for the Israeli market, which makes
the business turnover between $700-800,000. The Kesslers are secular
Jews like around half of the families in Tekoa.
Their near neighbours, Reuben Freeman, a research physicist and
his wife Annette, originally from Hamilton, Ontario and Philadelphia
respectively, are Orthodox, like the other half of the settlement.
The Freemans were among the first 16 families to move to Tekoa in
1979. Annette believes living in Tekoa is a political statement,
establishing the right of Jews to live where they like "throughout
Judea and Samaria." "Would you deny a Red Indian the right to buy a
house in Philadelphia?" she asked. Within minutes of meeting her she
told me she believed the Arabs want to drive the Jews into the sea.
"I want to live in peace with them but do they want to live in peace
with me?" she insisted. On the sagging shelves of the Freeman house
there is a set of black leatherbound collected writings of one John L.
Stoddard -- a late nineteenth century traveller. Stoddard visited
Palestine in 1897 and records: "But man's envy of the beauty and
fertility of Palestine produced its ruin...the land has lain for ages
like a beautiful slave in the market©place, contended for by wrangling
rivals...association with the past, therefore is everything in
Palestine...Summon from its hills the echoes of the past, and every
stone will seem a monument and every ruined wall a page of history."
The residents of Tekoa are fond of summoning echoes of the past.
Their favorite probably being chapter one of the book of Amos, which
begins: "The words of Amos, one of the sheep farmers of Tekoa."
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Jewish identity is a funny thing. Even if you only have the
smallest glimmer of Jewish identity, it won't let you rest. In Judea,
we know who we are and where we are, so that part of our minds can
rest.
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ETZION BLOC
*The Etzion Bloc, 1948 -- The Expulsion*
Forty-five years ago, in January 1948, 35 men of the Haganah, one
of the Jewish defense forces of the pre-state era, set out to
reinforce the Etzion Bloc, a group of Jewish settlements 8 miles south
of Jerusalem. These settlements were surrounded by Arab forces and
had been living under siege since mid-December 1947. Just 3 miles west
of the Etzion Bloc the "35" were attacked by hundreds of Arabs from
the nearby villages. Five times they repulsed their attackers until
their ammunition was finished. Then they used rocks. All 35 were
killed.
Then in May 1948, "In the radio room, an operator tapped out a
last message: 'Tonight we shall no longer be here. So ends the
chapter of the Etzion Bloc.' As the trucks rolled off each hill, the
prisoners caught their last glimpse of the buildings on which they had
labored so hard. One by one they burst into flames. Then, like a
swarm of locusts, the Arab multitudes descended on their orchards and
vineyards" (Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, _O Jerusalem_).
*The Etzion Bloc, 1967 -- The Return*
With the liberation of Judea from the Jordanian Arabs, it was now
possible for Jews to live again in the Etzion Bloc. Many of the
children of 1948 returned in 1969 with their own children to rebuild
the communities which had been destroyed.
Leah (who was expelled from one of the Etzion settlements in
1948): "On that first Rosh HaShana (the Jewish New Year) we came to
the renewed Kfar Etzion (one of the settlements) to celebrate together
with our children. We looked for the Kfar Etzion that we had left
behind us. That night we could not sleep and so we walked out into
the night and then we felt that we were in Kfar Etzion. I walked on
the familiar path to the chicken coop where I had worked in the past.
We dug with our hands and we found the foundations of a few of the
buildings -- the synagogue-community hall and the carpentry shop"
(_Gushpanka_, the magazine of the Etzion communities).
*The Etzion Bloc, 1992 -- The 25th Anniversary of the Jewish Return*
Today there are ten community settlements in the western section
of the Etzion Bloc and five in the east. Living here, as in all of
Israel, are Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews, native-born Israelis and
immigrants both new and old. There is the pizza shop owner from the
U.S.A. who runs in marathons, the Israeli teacher-principal who is
also a bookbinder, and the Canadian biology lab technician turned
hi-tech mushroom farmer. Here, too, are goat farmers, computer
experts, musicians, jewelry-makers, dressmakers, insurance agents,
gardeners and more -- all of whom are involved in the ongoing
rebuilding of the Etzion Bloc. -- Y.A.
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THE TEMPLE MOUNT IS OURS: A HANNUKAH STORY
Near the end of the second century BCE, the Jews in Judea were
divided into two distinct groups: 1) the followers of Greek-based
western culture -- most of whom were urbanites involved in improving
their economic and social status; 2) the rest of the nation -- the
farmer-residents of the small settlements of Judea. They were steeped
in religiosity and preferred a policy of isolationism from the foreign
Greek occupier.
As a result of the harsh taxes and the imposing of Greek customs
by Antiochus IV (commander of the Greeks in Syria, also called the
Seleucids), the Jews rose up in rebellion. At first they were led by
Mattathias the Hasmonean. Upon his death one of his sons, Judah the
Maccabee, took over the leadership. This family belonged to the
priestly class and lived in the provincial town of Modiin -- situated
in the lowlands of Judea. Eventually "the countryside of Judea was
under the effective control of the Maccabees. Seleucid rule in Judea
was confined to Jerusalem alone. Officials and troops were eventually
bottled up inside the city walls" (Moshe Perlman, _The Maccabees_).
At four different times, the Greeks sent huge armies to wipe out
Judah and his forces and four times the Greeks were defeated. Although
at a great disadvantage in strength, Judah used his knowledge of the
topography of the Judean hills to his advantage. Large armies were
difficult to maneuver up through the narrow passes in the hills of
Judea. Judah knew how to position his troops so that they were able
to surprise and overwhelm the marching Greeks, whose normal battles
were fought in large open areas. The last battle before Judah and his
army went up to Jerusalem to regain the Temple took place at Beth Zur
-- situated between Hebron and Jerusalem.
"Lysias' (commander of the Greek-Syrian army) mercenaries had been
marching for weeks without thought of danger. As they set out for
Jerusalem on that last fateful morning,..they marched warily towards
Beth Zur. They reached it without incident and continued northwards,
their confidence increasing and their vigilance relaxing with each
step. As the lead unit emerged from the defile, it came under
surprise attack from Judah's men. The assault was sharp and heavy and
most of the unit was wiped out. Judah now had enough men to tackle
several of the forward units simultaneously by enveloping them from
both sides of the gully, and in a short while the lead mercenary
contingents were out of action....'Lysias lost about five thousand men
in the close fighting'" (I Macc. 4:34).
"Judah knew what to do...now that his Maccabees were stronger than
they had ever been and in full control of rural Judea. He would
proceed with the aim he, his father and brothers had set themselves
when they had sat in sackcloth and ashes three years earlier mouurning
'the abomination,' the profanation of Jewry's most sacred shrine. He
would go up to Jerusalem and rededicate the Temple" (Pearlman).
And so Judah marched to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, ignoring
for the time being the Seleucid fortress near the Temple. The Jewish
troops found the Temple desecrated and unfit for Jewish worship. The
altar was rebuilt and on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev
the Temple was rededicated. The celebrations continued for eight
days. "Thus was inaugurated the Festival of Hanukkah, which is
observed to this day by Jews throughout the world. 'Hanukkah' is
Hebrew for dedication and the name derives from the First Book of
Maccabees" (Pearlman).
Hanukkah continually reminds Jews that they must fight tenaciously
to preserve their tradition and culture. Equally important, Hanukkah
reminds Jews that Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and Judea are integral
and necessary parts of their heritage. -- Y.A.
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Data Base:
ZIONISM "MAKES FACTS" (AND IGNORES THE INTIFADA): FIVE YEARS OF
JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN JUDEA, SAMARIA AND GAZA, 1986-1991
*A Quarter-Million Jews; Up 80,000 in Five Years*
A quarter-million (252,865) Jews live today on land that even
moderate Arabs claim for Arab control (see previous report, "191,700
Jews in the "Occupied Territories," SAA:13, 15 August 1988). These
areas include certain northern, eastern and southern sections of
Jerusalem, as well as Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights.
Some 81,765 Jews moved into all of these areas within the last five
years and, given the current rapid pace of construction, a projection
of an additional 100,000 in the coming five years could be low.
*Judea, Samaria and Gaza Have 112,125 Jews; Up 50,000 in Five Years;
200,000 by Year 2000*
Looking only at Judea, Samaria and Gaza, any projected autonomy
for the Palestinians there must consider the 112,125 Jews living in
these areas today. The Jewish population here has grown by 51,725
persons (86 percent) over the last five years, in the face of the
intifada. If such growth rates continue, the Jewish population in
Judea and Samaria alone could soon be proportionately comparable to
the sizeable Arab minority living within pre-1967 Israel.
*Fastest Growing Areas: Ariel, Benjamin Region, Ramot, Pisgat Zeev*
The fastest growing towns in Judea and Samaria are Ariel, up 5,250
(89 percent) since 1986, and Maaleh Adumim, up 3,350 (27 percent).
Also prominent in Judea are the new haredi town of Betar, and Efrat
(up 119 percent). In Samaria, smaller villages that have grown into
towns include Karnei Shomron, Oranit and Beit Aryeh. In the rural
areas, the most prominent growth is seen in the Benjamin region
northwest of Jerusalem, up 7,800 (135 percent). Smaller rural regions
with significant Jewish population growth include the Hebron Hills (up
145 percent) and Gaza (up 139 percent), as well as the villages served
by the new Megilot regional council in the Modi'in area.
The Jerusalem neighborhoods considered here have grown by 25,940
(25 percent since 1986), including Ramot, up 11,510 (48 percent) and
Pisgat Zeev, up 5,039 (210 percent).
*Five-Year Projection to 1996: Up to 400,000 Jews in the Territories*
A realistic projection of the overall Jewish population in the
Arab-defined "occupied territories" five years from now is 374,000,
based on the same rate of overall increase as in the past (48
percent). This number could reach 400,000 and beyond, given the
massive government-backed, countrywide building program in response to
the current wave of Jewish immigration, as well as political
projections predicting the continuation of control of the Israeli
government by parties supporting continued settlement.
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TABLE
FIVE YEARS OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN SELECTED NEIGHBORHOODS OF
JERUSALEM, JUDEA, SAMARIA, GAZA, AND THE GOLAN, 1986-1991
5-Year
1986 1991 Increase %
------------------------------------
TOTAL 171,100 252,865 81,765 48
======= ======= ====== ==
JERUSALEM (1)
Selected Neighborhoods: 104,200 130,140 25,940 25
------- ------- ------ --
Old City: Jewish Quarter; 2,506*
Muslim Quarter, City of
David (from 1991) 2,200 2,506* 306 14
Ramat Eshkol, Givat
Hamivtar, Maalot Dafna,
Sanhedria Murhevet 15,000 16,117 1,117 7
French Hill 6,900 6,592 -308 -4
Neve Yaakov 14,300 17,768 3,468 24
East Talpiot 12,200 14,728 2,528 21
Gilo 25,200 29,680 4,480 18
Ramot 23,800 35,310 11,510 48
Pisgat Zeev 2,400 7,439 5,039 210
JUDEA, SAMARIA AND GAZA (2) 60,400 112,125 51,725 86
------ ------- ------ --
Towns 37,100 68,725 31,625 85
Regional Councils (villages) 23,300 43,400 20,100 86
JUDEA 26,800 44,425 17,625 66
------ ------ ------ --
Towns: 22,400 35,825 13,425 60
------ ------ ------ --
Maaleh Adumim 12,400 15,750 3,350 27
Kiryat Arba 4,500 6,250 1,750 39
Hebron (3) - 575 n.a. -
Givat Zeev 3,900 6,850 2,950 76
Efrat 1,600 3,500 1,900 119
Betar - 2,900 2,900 -
Regional Councils: 4,400 8,600 4,200 95
----- ----- ----- --
Gush Etzion 3,400 6,150 2,750 81
Hebron Hills 1,000 2,450 1,450 145
SAMARIA 31,800 63,400 31,600 99
------ ------ ------ ---
Towns: 14,700 32,900 18,200 124
------ ------ ------ ---
Alfei Menashe 1,800 3,450 1,650 92
Ariel 5,900 11,150 5,250 89
Elkana 1,900 3,200 1,300 68
Emmanuel 4,000 4,350 350 9
Maaleh Efraim 1,100 1,700 600 55
Karnei Shomron (4) - 4,650 n.a. -
Oranit (4) - 3,100 n.a. -
Beit Aryeh (4) - 1,300 n.a. -
Regional Councils: 17,100 30,500 13,400 78
------ ------ ------ --
Samaria 9,300 12,400 3,100 33
Benjamin 5,800 13,600 7,800 135
Jordan Valley 2,000 3,800 1,800 90
Migilot - 700 700 -
GAZA Regional Council 1,800 4,300 2,500 139
GOLAN HEIGHTS (5) 8,700 10,600 1,900 22
Notes:
* Includes 200 Jews living in the Muslim Quarter and the City of
David.
(1) Neighborhoods in areas not administered by Israel before 1967.
There are also new neighborhoods in the western sections of Jerusalem,
such as Har Nof, which are not included since they are in areas
administered by Israel prior to 1967. All figures as of 31 December
for the given year, from Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem (Jerusalem:
Jerusalem Center for Israel Studies), 1986 - No. 5 (1988); 1991 - No.
10 (forthcoming).
(2) Figures for Judea, Samaria and Gaza: 1986 - Council of Jewish
Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Moetzet Yesha) (as of 31 March
1986) in Counterpoint (August 1986); 1991 - Council of Jewish
Communities... (as of 30 September 1991 (Press Release, 4 November
1991).
(3) Prior to 1991, included with Kiryat Arba.
(4) Prior to 1991, part of the Samaria Regional Council.
(5) All figures from Statistical Abstract of Israel (Jerusalem:
Central Bureau of Statistics), 1986 - (as of 31 December 1985) 1986
(1987); 1991 - as of 31 December 1990) 1991 (1992).
-- M.A.
From _Survey of Arab Affairs_, No. 28, 1 June 1992; Copyright
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs; reprinted with permission.
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DEVORAH: COMING OF AGE ON THE FRONTIER
We were invited to an evening Bat Mitzva celebration in the Jewish
village of Beit Yatir in the South Hebron Hills of Judea. We chose not
to drive all the way, but instead picked up the special bus (chartered
by our hosts to bring guests to the affair from Jerusalem) when it
passed by the Etzion Bloc just after Efrat. In fifteen minutes we
were in Kiryat Arba, a Jewish section of Hebron, and then continued
southward for another thirty minutes on a dark and winding road
through hilly and practically uninhabited land. We passed the ancient
Jewish hilltop city of Sussiya, and then finally reached Beit Yatir,
the fourth and last Jewish village along the road. In the distance to
the south we could see the lights of Arad.
Present-day Beit Yatir is located at the site of ancient Yatir
which is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (chapter 21, verse 14) as a
city of priestly families in the Negev region of Judea. The Book of
Joshua also refers to the open land surrounding Beit Yatir and today
many of the 30 pioneering families there work that same land, growing
grapes, cherries, nectarines and peanuts.
That evening the Livne family, formerly of New York, was
celebrating the Bat Mitzva of their second daughter, Devorah. The
beginning of the passage from childhood to womanhood is recognized
formally for a Jewish girl at age twelve as she becomes responsible
for observing the commandments of the Torah and playing a more active
role in community life.
The village social hall was filled with friends of the family --
mostly ex-Americans -- who came from many parts of Israel.
Particularly moving were the words spoken by Navah, mother of Devorah,
who explained the naming of her daughter. Devorah was a judge and a
prophetess in Israel some 3,000 years ago. She was a woman of
extraordinary wisdom and insight who inspired and led the Israelite
tribes to victory over the menacing Canaanites, who had wanted to
enslave the Jewish people. Almost 3,000 years later, Navah explained,
another Devorah, a great-aunt of the Bat Mitzva girl, fought and died
valiantly in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis. These two
strong Jewish women -- these two Devorahs -- worked and fought for the
Jewish people -- the first, while living in the Land of Israel, and
the second, in the hope of getting there someday. Their memory and
inspiration lives on in that young Devorah whose Bat Mitzva we
celebrated in the south Judean countryside in the fall of 1992.
-- Y.A.
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THE ANCIENT CITY OF SUSSIYA
The ancient Jewish city of Sussiya in southern Judea was a large
and developed Jewish settlement in the time of the writing of the
Talmud. Because no new settlement was built on the ruins of the old
one, the site was well preserved through the centuries. Most
impressive to see are the remains of the written and pictorial mosaics
in the ancient synagogue.
The Sussiya Education Center, at the new Jewish settlement built
near the site of original Sussiya, offers guided tours of the ancient
city and hostel accommodations. To arrange a tour, call: 02-963424;
02-963012 or fax: 02-961511.
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A DIRECTORY OF JEWISH TOWNS AND VILLAGES IN JUDEA
Judea is one of Israel's fastest growing regions. Its Jewish
population grew by two-thirds over the last five years with the
arrival of thousands of newcomers and a local baby boom.
Jewish Towns: Jerusalem Givat Ze'ev
Betar Kiryat Arba
Efrat Maaleh Adumim
Jewish Villages:
Benjamin Region Etzion Bloc Mt. Hebron
--------------- ----------- ----------
Abir Yaakov Alon Shvut Adura
Adam Bat Ayin Beit Haggai
Alman (Anatot) Carmei Tzur Beit Yatir
Beit Horon El-David Carmel
Givon Hahadasha Elazar Eshkolot
Har Adar Givaot Livna (Shani)
Kfar Adumim Hadar Betar Maale Hever
Maale Michmash Har Gilo Maon
Kedar Omarim (Tene)
Kfar Etzion Otniel
Maale Amos Shim'a
Metzad Sussiya
Migdal Oz Telem
Neve Daniel
Rosh Tzurim
Tekoa
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JEWISH ABORIGINAL RIGHTS
Irwin Cotler
"If one wants to make the case, then, for the legality of
settlements, or even for settlements as not being an obstacle to
peace...one has to understand the nature of the discourse and the
culture in which we live. An important dimension of the human rights
revolution today, for example, is aboriginal rights....So if I wanted
to make the case for the legality of settlements -- and I have no
problem with the settlements from a legal point of view -- I
would...use the aboriginal rights theme in this sense.
Abba Eban once put it best. He said: 'The Jewish people are the
only people in the world today who still inhabit the same land,
worship the same God, and speak the same language as they did 3,000
years ago.' In a word, Israel and the Jewish people are the
prototypical indigenous people, having aboriginal rights, at least
aboriginal rights of settlement. What we would not deny to the
aboriginal peoples in Canada or the United States, one should
certainly not deny to a prototypical people, Israel."
-- Irwin Cotler, "Human Rights in the New International Legal
Order," Proceedings of the 3rd Public Policy Day, Jerusalem Center for
Public Affairs, 21 June 1991.
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THE JEWISH RETURN TO JUDEA
Twenty-five years ago Jews were forbidden to enter Judea. Twenty
years ago there were less than a thousand Jews living there. Today,
there are 45,000 Jews living in Judea and their numbers continue to
rise. The Jewish population has enjoyed a 66 percent growth rate over
the last five years and construction of new homes continues in many of
its major towns. Judea has been particularly attractive to Jews from
English-speaking backgrounds and many of its towns and villages
contain sizable minorities of North American and British origin.
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THE JEWISH DESTINY
Throughout the centuries of diaspora, "the Jew retained something
incomprehensible which tied him to his people, namely the sense of the
uniqueness of the Jewish destiny, which demands of a person that he
not do that which is to his personal advantage but rather precisely
that which it is not worth his while to do." -- Elimelech Rimalt,
"Debate on Reparations From Germany," Sitting 38 of the Second Knesset
(7 January 1952), in Netanel Lorch, ed., _Major Knesset Debates,
1948-1981,_ 6 vols. (Lanham, Md.: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
and University Press of America, 1992).
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JUDEA Magazine is an academic-oriented bi-monthly electronic magazine
produced and transmitted from Judea, Israel. Its focus is the
rebuilding of Jewish communities and Jewish life in Judea. Internet:
amiel2@crosswinds.net Mail: Judea Magazine, Yael and Mark Ami-El, Editors,
Tekoa, D.N. North Judea, Israel Fax: 972-2-964588.
JUDEA Magazine is offered without charge on the Internet. All
material may be reprinted with attribution to JUDEA Magazine and
original source as cited. Comments are welcome.
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Your comments and questions are welcome. Please reply to:
amiel2@crosswinds.net