Hebron Etzion
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/ Arba \ / Efrat \ / \ / \_______
___/ \____/ \__/ \____/ Maaleh Adumim
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"Rebuilding Jewish Life in Judea, Israel"
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JUDEA ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE Vol.8, No.1 Shevat-Adar I 5760/Jan-Feb 2000
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NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS: www.crosswinds.net/~judea
Contents: NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: amiel2@crosswinds.net
The Fight for Jerusalem:
* Jerusalem Neighborhoods in Immediate Danger
* Blotting Out Jewish History on the Temple Mount
* The Jews of Beit Hanina
* The "Palestinian Parliament" in Abu Dis
* On Chelm and the Mideast
* Dor Hemshekh - The Next Generation
* Arabs Vandalize Snowbound Cars in Gush Etzion
* From Your Neighborhood Insurance Agent
* To Separate in Peace
************************************************************************
The Fight for Jerusalem:
JERUSALEM NEIGHBORHOODS IN IMMEDIATE DANGER
MK Benny Elon
We have reached the point where some 200,000 "settlers" live in
Jerusalem, in the neighborhoods of Ramot, Ramat Shlomo, Neve Yaacov,
Pisgat Ze'ev, Ramat Eshkol, Gilo, and also Maaleh Adumim, which is just
outside the Jerusalem city limits.
Residents of some of these neighborhoods face great, immediate
danger. There is a grave danger to Ramat Shlomo if Bet Hanina and areas
north of Shuafat become Area A (under full PA control). There is
immediate danger to the Atarot district if the surrounding areas become
Area A. If A-Ram and Dhiat-el-Barid become Area A, it will greatly
endanger residents of Neve Yaacov who already suffer at the hands of
their neighbors.
If Abu Dis and Azam, located at the foot of the army checkpoint
adjacent to Mount Scopus, are transferred to Area A, Maaleh Adumim will
be in danger. And the beautiful Ramot neighborhood, secure and demure,
will face immediate danger if the neighboring village of Bet Ichsa
becomes Area A -- Ramot is to its north, while the village touches the
Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, potentially cutting off Ramot from the rest
of Jerusalem.
What is Area A?
What happens to an area that becomes Area A? People like to believe
this is just some unimportant code, but in reality areas transferred to
Area A become like Ramallah and Bethlehem. A stolen car can disappear
into that area within seconds. Although security actions in Area B are
extremely complicated, car thieves can sometimes be caught, whereas in
Area A, there is no entrance to Israel's police force. Current statistics
put the figures of stolen cars at eight per minute. Areas A are
safe-houses, where the army and police are refused entrance. If the army
dared to enter Area A, it would lead to a full-blown international
incident.
Residents of Neve Yaakov know that Dhiat-el-Barid lies within
walking distance from the bus line. Until now, if there was a serious
problem the police could go in, and in the event of a severe incident the
army could enter. If this situation changes and the area becomes Area A,
the army will not be allowed in, even if there are weapons stocked there.
The residents of Ramat Shlomo also know of what I speak: they live next
to Arab houses from which Jews are shot at even today. If these houses
are transferred to Area A, there will be a very real threat to their
lives because the police and army cannot enter. Or, for example, look at
Maaleh Adumim - there are currently two roads that lead to this
neighborhood, the old road past Azariah and Abu Dis, and the new road
that supposedly is quiet but actually touches Azam, which could also
become Area A.
Call to Action
The ramifications are immediate: 200,000 Israeli citizens are not
aware that they are "settlers" - for they don't travel in protected cars,
aren't connected to local emergency radio frequencies in case of trouble
on the roads, and do not live within a fence or in an atmosphere of
settlement activity. These people travel on regular bus lines, taking the
#25 to Neve Yaacov or the #31 to the Gilo neighborhood in southern
Jerusalem, just like any other Jerusalem resident. They will feel the
changes which were scheduled and have now been delayed.
Public awareness is of vital importance, and I praise all those who
are waking up to the dangers facing Jerusalem. Their efforts come from a
Jewish heart.
(Translated by Ruth J. Lieberman; 3 Feb 2000)
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BLOTTING OUT JEWISH HISTORY ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT
About 4,000 people joined in a demonstration on 27 Dec 99 on Mt.
Scopus overlooking the Temple Mount, in light of the increasing loss of
Israeli control of the holy site. Moshe Feiglin of Zo Artzeinu, chief
organizer of the event, told Arutz-7's Ron Meir, "On Shabbat, the Waqf
builders found a structure, possibly from the times of the Temple, under
the Temple Mount. They did not report it to the authorities, but instead
destroyed it, rock by rock....Our main goal is to raise awareness of the
Temple Mount, our nation's holiest place - not to turn a cold shoulder to
the heart of the nation."
"How can we wage a struggle for the limbs of the nation if we turn
our backs on the heart of the Land, the heart of the nation? We must
begin by telling the truth to ourselves, first of all. When we [Israel]
took down the flag after capturing the Temple Mount in the Six-Day War,
that was the beginning of our collapse in Judea and Samaria and the
Golan. This demonstration is a sign of life. Whoever comes is reacting
to a stabbing in the heart of the Jewish people, and is showing that he
feels pain and is still alive. This will be proof that Am Yisrael Chai -
the People of Israel lives!"
"This is not a demonstration against Barak, or Bibi, or Rabin, or
anyone else. It is first of all a complaint against myself, against
ourselves - how is it that this is the first time in 30 years that a
demonstration of thousands has been organized about our loss of
sovereignty on the Temple Mount?...This is first of all a form of
repentance for us, a call to renew our covenant with 'the site of our
holy place,' and from here we will secure strength for our struggle for
the entire Land....The top of Mt. Scopus is very fitting for this event,
as it is the spot at which Rabbi Akiva looked out over the newly-desolate
Temple Mount some 1900 years ago and saw foxes prowling around - and
laughed in anticipation of the forthcoming Redemption."
(Arutz Sheva News Service, December 28, 1999)
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THE JEWS OF BEIT HANINA
Beit Hanina is one of the northern suburbs of Jerusalem. It also
happens to be one of the Arab suburbs annexed to the municipality of
Israel's capital. Beit Hanina is situated very close to the Jewish
neighborhoods of Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Zeev, as well as being in
proximity to the Jerusalem airport at Atarot.
During the Six-Day War in June 1967, this area was liberated by the
IDF after Jordan's King Hussein decided that he could not resist getting
in on the Arab's latest plan to push Israel into the sea. Right after
the war, a group of Lehi (a Jewish underground group before the State of
Israel was founded) veterans got together to find a place to live in the
newly expanded Jerusalem area. They settled on a half-finished low-rise
apartment building in Beit Hanina, which they bought and fixed up to
accommodate seven families. To this day, the residents here are almost
all from Lehi and are now grandparents and great-grandparents.
Shimon Barmatz and his wife and children came to Beit Hanina with
six other families in 1968, a year af. All through the ensuing years
there was only one unpleasant incident involving the Arabs and that
happened at the height of the intifada. Barmatz is sure that the
"dreaded" Lehi or "Stern Gang" are still feared by the local Arabs and so
they do not touch the Jews there. Barmatz is even recognized as the
"Mukhtar" or head of Beit Hanina. When there is a dispute between
families, the Arabs call on Shimon to arbitrate. Many of them do not
want their neighborhood to be turned over to the Palestinian Authority
and have asked Shimon Barmatz to talk to people in Israel's government
and convince them to keep Beit Hanina as part of the State of Israel.
The Barmatz family has deep roots in this country. Shimon's
grandfather was given the key to Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem by Moses
Montefiore, which Shimon shows to visitors to his home. In addition,
this same grandfather started a printing business which is still being
run by his grandson, Shimon. The Barmatz walls are covered with framed
advertisements, maps, and photos spanning a century of the family
printing business.
Shimon Barmatz tells how he served in the IDF until he was 60 and in
the local home guard until the age of 70. He says that most people his
age are tired of fighting and have already left it to the next
generations -- but not Barmatz. He continues his fight for the Jewish
right to the Land of Israel by hosting groups in his home and telling
them his own personal history which is so intertwined with the Jewish
return and struggle for the Land of Israel. He is a soldier who also
believes in miracles. For him, the Six-Day War was nothing short of a
miracle.
The Lehi organization was the smallest of the underground groups,
which included the Etzel and the Hagana, in pre-state Israel. Now, as
then, they remain a small but mighty force, willing to make sacrifices
for values such as Zionism, the future of the Jewish people, and the Land
of Israel. During Mandatory times in Israel, Lehi people were hunted
down by the British and even betrayed by certain elements in the Hagana.
Undaunted, they went on fighting for their beliefs, and today Shimon
Barmatz and other veteran Lehi fighters are once again on the front lines
in the current struggle to keep Jerusalem whole.
************************************************************************
THE "PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENT" IN ABU DIS
In early February, two groups of Knesset members visited Abu Dis to
survey the building which may become the Parliament of the Palestinian
Authority. The building looks like a fortress with thick walls and
narrow windows.
Abu Dis is officially outside the Jerusalem municipal boundaries. It
lies between the Mount of Olives, Abu Tor, Jabel Mukhaber and Sur Bahir
on the west and Al-Azaria and Ma'aleh Adumim on the north and east. Abu
Dis is designated as Area B, which means that it falls under the
administrative authority of the Palestinian Authority, but security
remains in Israeli hands. The Palestinians are demanding that it be
turned into Area A, an area completely under their control.
The Knesset members learned that in the 1920s, Jews bought 700
dunams of land in Abu Dis, some 70 of which are today within the
municipal boundaries, with the rest in Area B. According to Mati Dan,
"This land is still registered as Jewish land. The distance from Abu Dis
to the Western Wall is only 1,700 meters and 700 meters to the Mount of
Olives."
(From Gail Lichtman, _In Jerusalem_, 11 Feb 2000, p. 3, 10)
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ON CHELM AND THE MIDEAST
Michael S. Arnold
Ruth Wisse was born in Romania and in 1940 at age 4 escaped from
Europe with her family, reaching Montreal. Today she is a professor of
Yiddish and comparative literature at Harvard, and the author of numerous
books including _If I Am Not for Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the
Jews_ (1992).
Wisse sees Jews in Israel and the diaspora, faced with seemingly
unending hostility from the Arab world, falling back on political
strategies they honed over two millennia as resident aliens in the
Christian and Moslem worlds: Try to accommodate your adversaries, and if
they still don't like you, see the fault in yourself.
According to Wisse, in every place they settled, the Jews sought out
the niches where they could fill the needs of their host societies. With
this strategy, the Jews sustained themselves materially and maintained
the communal institutions that kept alive the nation's spirit, but in
terms of political power they were impotent, completely dependent on the
protection of the local ruler.
Those Jews who survived successive waves of persecution saw in their
endurance the proof that God ultimately guaranteed their safety. The
ruling Christians and Moslems, however, read a different moral into the
story, seeing the Jews' perpetual sufferings as proof of their cursedness
and a sign of the gentiles' superiority. Each wave of persecution only
made the next one inevitable.
Indeed, Wisse notes, the Jews' political strategy had transformed
them into a "no-fail target" for their gentile rulers; their lives and
property, in effect, a safety valve upon which was released all the
political pressure building up in the host society.
"The Jews thought they were fulfilling all kinds of functions -
economic functions of real usefulness to society - but their real
function for the politicians was as a target," she says. "Violence
against the Jews was always politically profitable, and always without
consequence."
Anti-Jewish fervor has served numerous functions for the Arab and
Islamic world, Wisse notes: as a tool of pan-Arabism, as a tool of pan-
Islam (including for recruitment today among American Blacks), as a point
of alliance with the Soviet Union, and for the crystallization of many
Arab countries' nationalism. Having allied themselves first with the
Nazis during World War II and then with the Soviets during the Cold War,
the Arabs, she says, have laid claim to the legacy of the two greatest
purveyors of 20th century antisemitism.
"The Palestinians are the first people whose nationalism consists
primarily of opposition to the Jewish people," she says. "It's not just a
component feature as it was of German, French, Polish, or Russian
nationalism, which all used antipathy to the Jews. Palestinian
nationalism really came to efflorescence as a nationalism that defines
itself primarily against the Jewish people. This is truly a frightening
phenomenon."
Most trace the erosion of international support for Israel to the
Six-Day War in 1967 when Israel's image as the weakling in danger of
extermination by the bullying Arab world shifted to the conquering brute
that humiliated three Arab states and stole their lands.
Wisse, however, places the crucial moment six years later, in the
wake of the Yom Kippur War. It was then, as the Arab-Soviet alliance
solidified, that the Arabs in what Wisse considers one brilliant stroke
remade the ideological contours of the conflict and put the Jews on the
moral defensive. They did this by exchanging the rhetoric of the right -
bellicose statements about ganging up to sweep the Jewish state into the
sea - for the rhetoric of the left, a Soviet-style propaganda onslaught
in which the Arab states painted Israel as the aggressor, the racist,
colonial implant. Suddenly the huge and aggressive Arab world which had
fought three wars against Israel receded, leaving only imperialist Israel
threatening shivering Palestinian refugees.
The ruse worked, she says. Even liberal Jews felt their support for
Israel shaken, felt themselves under moral suspicion. As those who by
definition believe in the goodness of man and the solubility of human
conflicts, liberals were confounded by the Arabs' persistent hatred for
Israel; offered an ideological fig-leaf, they found it easier to blame
Israel for that hostility than consider the possibility that mankind was
in fact not as honorable and peace-loving as they wished to believe. The
right, which found reasons of self-interest to support the Arab cause - a
billion consumers and a major supplier of oil - found itself an aalliwith
the liberal left. Wisse felt the noose tightening.
"Every year there are more and more people falling for this
propaganda," Wisse says. "People want to find a solution, and it's easier
to force the Jews to do something than it is to force the Arab world. So
if I want to be an optimist, I have to blame the Jews.
Anyone even marginally familiar with Yiddish culture knows the tales
of Chelm, a place whose inhabitants are so incorrigibly foolish that they
have become the butt of untold Jewish jokes. Wisse boils down the
repertoire of Chelm stories to one simple principle: the choice of a
course of action that is theoretically possible but practically absurd.
Israel's behavior since the onset of the peace process fits this
pattern, she believes; a course of concessions by the stronger party to
weaker adversaries whom Wisse believes remain committed to the
destruction of the Jewish state. The theory behind it is that
accommodation by Israel will assuage Arab intransigence and buy the Jews
acceptance in the region.
Yet Jewish experience has proven, Wisse says, that the truth is
precisely the opposite: A policy of surrender does not bring you honor in
your enemies' eyes but only whets their appetite.
"There isn't anyone in the world who is politically astute who looks
at the map and the demographics and says it's within the power of the
Jewish people to bring peace - except through self-annihilation," Wisse
says.
A nation worn and grief-stricken from the devastation of the
Holocaust believed that its victory in war, the final arbiter of
international politics, would ensure its ultimate acceptance in the
region. Yet the Arabs, Wisse says, refused to play by the rules of the
game. Losing each successive war, they have insisted on maintaining their
siege of the Jewish state until the round when they ultimately would
breach the walls.
"No other people in the 20th century has been so subject to the
politics of delegitimation and aggression, and it's bound to take a
toll," Wisse says. "So we begin to yield, and you think: 'It's wonderful,
it will bring peace, I will bring the solution.' It's a very self-
congratulatory kind of move, and your intellect tends to support it,
because the alternative seems too bleak to contemplate: to hold firm not
for one generation but for 10. That is a very viable option as far as I'm
concerned. If anyone thinks it's going to take less than that, they are
obviously willing to sacrifice the State of Israel, because it will take
many, many generations for the Arab world to transform itself into a
modern, democratic society."
"Jews tend to present themselves as being so moral if they stand up
for persecuted [peoples] but it would only be true if these Jews were
willing to stand up first and foremost for the most persecuted people of
all, which is the Jews," Wisse says. "If you look at the moral history of
the 20th century, to stand up for the Jews has meant standing up to the
most aggressive political forces. It's almost a rule of thumb. When the
Jews stand up for themselves here in Israel they're not just protecting
the Jews, they are at one and the same time standing up to the most
debilitating, aggressive forces of our century. And if they lose this
struggle, in a sense they involved the world in a tremendous loss."
(From _Jerusalem Post_ Magazine, 28 Jan 2000, pp. 18-20.)
*******************************************************************
DOR HEMSHEKH - THE NEXT GENERATION
On 30 Dec 1999, some 150 members of Dor Hemshekh (Next Generation)
were evacuated after taking over an abandoned army camp near Tekoa in
Gush Etzion. The camp was recently deserted by the IDF in anticipation
of an upcoming withdrawal. Army and police forces arrived on the scene,
and began the evacuation - violently, in some cases - shortly after noon.
The protestors were taken by bus to the army command headquarters in Gush
Etzion, and a few were detained for questioning. A Yesha Council
spokesman called the Dor Hemshekh action a "positive protest event
against the continued withdrawals that are tearing the nation apart and
endangering the country."
(Arutz Sheva News Service, December 30, 1999)
* * *
On 13 Jan 2000, the police and army, using an inordinate measure of
force, evacuated some 150 Dor Hemshekh [Next Generation] members from the
Maon farm. Hundreds of other activists attempting to reach the farm
before dawn today were prevented from doing so when police tracked the
buses hired by Dor Hemshekh. Maon was evacuated and razed two months ago
in the framework of the "outposts compromise" between Prime Minister
Barak and the Yesha Council. The farm was built by Dov Dribben and two
friends; Dribben was murdered by a band of local Arabs over two years
ago.
Many of the teenaged participants walked up to 15 kilometers to
bypass the army's checkpoints. The reason for the attempt to take over
the farm was explained by activist Hevron Shilo: "The army until now was
here to protect the site, as the agreement stated. This past Thursday,
the army simply left, and Arabs took over and destroyed whatever was
left. We promised - and we're not politicians, so we keep our promises -
that if the army leaves, we'll be back. So we came." Dor Hemshekh
leader Shimon Ricklin promised that they will return to Maon yet again,
"to ensure that this site remains in Jewish hands."
(Arutz Sheva News Service, 13 Jan 2000 )
* * *
Jerusalem Magistrates Court Justice Carmi Mussak ordered 12 Dor
Hemshekh protestors freed "immediately and unconditionally." The 12 were
arrested following the forcible police-and-army removal of close to 150
Dor Hemshekh members from the Maon farm. The farm was evacuated under
the terms of the compromise reached two months ago between the Yesha
Council and the government. Justice Mussak said that despite claims by
the police, the youngsters did not violate a "closed military area"
order, as the order was "sweeping and illogical." Arutz-7's Kobi Sela
reported that the order basically forbade citizens from walking freely
throughout all of Judea, and that even people waiting for rides at bus
stops were asked to leave. The judge said that "reasons of security"
must not be employed by the army simply in order to prevent
demonstrations.
(Arutz Sheva News Service, 14 Jan 2000)
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ARABS VANDALIZE SNOWBOUND CARS IN GUSH ETZION
On 28 Jan 2000 at least a dozen Jewish motorists were treated for
light-to-moderate thermal injuries after they spent the night in their
vehicles near Bet Omar. The motorists, residents of communities south of
Gush Etzion were unable to make the trip after getting stuck in the snow
on Thursday evening.
When the IDF realized the motorists were trapped, armored personnel
carriers were dispatched, offering Arab and Jewish motorists an option to
get to a shelter before the storm increased.
The Arab motorists opted to leave their cars but most of the Jews
feared the local Arabs would vandalize the cars. On Friday morning, those
persons who spent the night in their cars sustained injuries from
exposure to the cold and were transported to a medical station.
Following the Sabbath, with the roads clear following the warmer
temperatures, the motorists made their way to the Bet Omar area to
retrieve their vehicles. To their dismay, the cars were vandalized and
robbed over the Sabbath.
(Kol M'Hashetach, from ISRAELWIRE News, www.israelwire.com, 29 Jan
2000)
* * *
Some 80 cars that became stuck on the Tunnels Highway leading to
Gush Etzion and Kiryat Arba were not only broken into, but also wantonly
vandalized. The police have reportedly arrested five Palestinians who
admitted to vandalizing the cars.
Over the course of Thursday night, the army and local police ordered
drivers to leave their cars along the highway, as the road had become
impassable. One driver told Arutz-7, "My radio-tape and mirrors were
taken, as were my two-way radio and even bullets. Others had their
batteries and other parts taken. This I can almost understand - why
didthey have to dedoors and other parts of the car, with absolutely no
benefit to them?" A representative of the Kiryat Arba Medical Center
lamented today, "At the very same time that we were caring for close to
50 Arabs who had become stuck on the roads that night, and providing them
with food and warmth, their townspeople were throwing rocks at Jews
trying to dig their cars out of the snow, selling them cups of tea for
five shekels ($1.20) a shot, and vandalizing their cars!"
(Arutz Sheva News Service, 30 Jan 2000)
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FROM YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD INSURANCE AGENT
Our client, a resident of Efrat, recently fulfilled a boyhood dream
and bought a Toyota Landrover. When he and his wife went to the Dead Sea
for a few days relaxation, on the first night of their holiday they went
to visit one of the new hotels in the area. When they came back outside,
the new Landrover was gone. What followed was the nightmare of all car
thefts: police reports, taxis back home, calls to the insurance agent,
investigators, etc. Luckily one of the protective devices required for
this particular car was the installation of an electronic chip which can
track the exact location of the car.
Where was it? In "friendly" Hebron. The security company that backs
up the protection device used its contacts to get to the Palestinian
Police. After a few days of negotiations, they demanded 12,000 shekels
($3,000) "ransom" for the car. The insurance company chose to pay the
bribe over the payment of the 130,000 shekels ($32,000) for the claim.
The money was delivered and the car was returned (with minor damage
only).
(By Egert and Cohen Insurance, Efrat, in _Voices, Feb 2000, p. 37)
***********************************************************************
TO SEPARATE IN PEACE
A new public interest group named "To Separate in Peace" was
recently established. The movement sees as its major task the raising of
an Israeli ultimative demand prior to any permanent agreement with the
Palestinians whereby Israeli Arab citizens will become Palestinian
citizens instead.
According to a spokesman for the movement, "It's not possible that
after we sign a permanent agreement, the heart of the problem - Arab
citizens of Israel - will remain unsolved. Otherwise, after there are two
Palestinian states - one Jordanian and one of Arafat - the Arabs of
Israel, who have announced beyond all doubt their identity as proud
Palestinians, will continue to demand that the State of Israel be
transformed into a bi-national state [instead of a Jewish state].
(_Jewish Leadership_, #67, 13 Adar I 5760)
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1995 - Vol. 3: Issues 3.1-3.6, 1996 - Vol. 4: Issues 4.1-4.6
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1999 - Vol. 7: Issues 7.1-7.6, 2000 - Vol. 8: Issue 8.1
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