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"Rebuilding Jewish Life in Judea, Israel"
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JUDEA ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE Vol.8, No.2 Adar II-Nisan 5760/Mar-Apr 2000
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Website: www.crosswinds.net/~judea
Contents:
* Along the Road to Negohot
* If Jews Cannot Drive Freely, Arabs Will Not Drive Freely
* It's Not Just Quality Of Life
* Building in Judea
* North Americans Move To Jerusalem
* Websites to Visit: Jerusalem - Capital of Israel / 75 Links to Judea
and Samaria
* The Good Englishman: A Secret for 52 Years
* The Song of Palestine: A Poem / What are Palestinian Children Studying?
/ Monitoring Incitement in the Palestinian Authority
* Interview with MK Avigdor Lieberman
* Hidden Jews in Postwar Poland
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ALONG THE ROAD TO NEGOHOT
Negohot means "lights" or "stars" in Hebrew. Today a Jewish village by
this name in the southwestern Hebron Hills is home to 13 young families
including children under age 3. Near the pre-1967 border, from Negohot
you can see the Mediterranean Sea, the towers of Tel Aviv, Gaza and Beer
Sheva -- a large chunk of Israel. After the latest Israeli withdrawal
from parts of Judea in March 2000, Negohot found itself with 2 km. of its
only approach road totally in PLO hands. Coming or going from this tiny
Jewish settlement requires four minutes of driving through three
checkpoints manned by armed terrorists.
Just after the handover of the road to the PLO, a convoy of Jewish
cars went to visit and encourage the young people in Negohot. As the
sixth car passed the first Arab checkpoint, a shout was heard to stop.
The driver and others in the car were at first not going to stop, but
then the driver noticed through her sideview mirror that the armed Arab
had cocked his gun at her vehicle. When she stopped, he came over to the
car and demanded that she remove the small Israeli flag from the car
window.
Such is the meaning of peace in the new Middle East today and such is
the situation some Jews have been put in by the Israeli government.
There is absolutely no IDF presence on that portion of the road to
Negohot that was given to the PLO. The fate of any Jew going there (and
the residents of Negohot have no choice) is in the hands of the Arabs.
All through its history, Israel and the Israel Defense Forces have
declared their total commitment to protecting the Jewish people. Yet a
Jewish government has willfully left Jews cut off by hostile territory in
the middle of the Land of Israel. Negohot is the first, but it may not be
the last.
* * *
The IDF has submitted a sharp complaint to the PA, following an
incident in which a Palestinian para-military policeman pointed
a gun at a Jewish woman on the road to Negohot and ordered her to remove
an Israeli flag from her car. The IDF spokesman confirmed that the PA
policeman had, in violation of the agreement, ordered the removal of the
flag.
Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman reports that the Israeli driver was one of
80 who made the solidarity trip to Negohot, along the road that was
handed over to complete Palestinian control last week. The army has
decided, together with the residents of the area, that it will not
operate a joint patrol along the Negohot road. Instead, the army
announced that it will continue to be responsible for the residents'
safety, and will be on the site within minutes in case of any "incident."
Administrative trips will continue to be made by IDF vehicles along the
road, to bring food to the soldiers there and the like. The Israelis
have asked the PA to cease its practice of asking Negohot residents for
identification when they drive along the road to their homes, despite the
fact that the practice is permitted by the agreements.
(Arutz 7 Radio, 26 Mar 00)
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IF JEWS CANNOT DRIVE FREELY, ARABS WILL NOT DRIVE FREELY
As the number of incidents during which Israeli motorists are being
detained, threatened, and at times beaten by PLO Authority (PA) security
forces continued to increase, Yesha residents have taken to the streets
demanding the government take decisive and immediate action to guarantee
their safety while driving on the roads to and from their homes.
On the morning of 31 March 2000, several dozen residents of Gush
Etzion blocked the southern entrance to Bethlehem, which is under PA
autonomous control. Participants in the action explained that this was in
retaliation for the blocking of roads to Gazan Jewish communities earlier
in the week by Arab protesters and PA forces.
Since Israel's implementation of the last 6.1 percent land withdrawal,
Israelis have been held at gunpoint by PA paramilitary forces in Samaria
near Bituniya, as well as in the South Hebron Hills and in Gaza. There
have been incidents in which PA forces have pointed loaded automatic
weapons at Israeli forces in Gaza, and in one case, Israeli forces were
beaten by their PA counterparts.
(IsraelWire, 2 Apr 00)
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South Hebron Hills: The Last Frontier
IT'S NOT JUST QUALITY OF LIFE
Kobi Finkler
Adi, a guide from the field school in Susiya, stands on a hilltop with
a breathtaking view of the surrounding South Hebron Hills and explains to
a group of teachers from Tel Aviv: "This is the spine of the mountain
ridge. Abraham and all our ancestors walked on these paths. As you see,
the Jewish villages here, so near the Arab territory, have no fences.
The people here feel that this is our home, and just as you don't live
behind fences in Tel Aviv, neither do we."
One of the largest villages in the area, Beit Hagai, is becoming known
as "Teacher Heights," since nearly all its residents work in education in
one way or another. Today 70 families live in Beit Hagai. The demand is
great and construction is at its height. In every corner it is possible
to see more and more houses in various stages of completion. The village
was founded in 1984 by graduates of the Yeshivat Hesder in Kiryat Arba.
"Hagai" are the initials of the names Hanan Krautheimer, Gershon Klein,
and Yaakov Zimerman, who were murdered by terrorists at the entrance to
Beit Haddassah in Hebron in 1980, and Yehoshua Salame, murdered a few
months earlier in the Hebron market.
The jewel of the educational enterprise at Beit Hagai is the
children's village. 58 boys aged 12-18 live in a community with a warm,
supportive atmosphere. The boys live in group homes together with a
married couple who watch after them like parents and who provide role
models. The homes have the support of psychologists, social workers, and
community workers who help build a community that answers all the needs
of the youth.
The nursery in the center of the village is bursting. The teacher
tells us that families come every day to ask about acquiring homes. Gili
Malul and his wife Michal moved to Beit Hagai from Maalot. "We looked for
a village in the Jerusalem area, and the quality of the people we found
here led us to decide to make our home here."
After the most recent IDF withdrawals, the area under Palestinian
control, where the IDF no longer enters, now reaches less than a
kilometer from Beit Hagai and Otniel.
Q: Will you continue to live here in the future?
Jilbert, the nursery school teacher, tells us: "No one will leave
here. We will overcome everyone. Nothing frightens us. The people of
Israel are strong and will continue to be strong. This is our place. We
have no other place, and the Arabs do. We will not leave." "With
education like that," says Gili, "how could anyone think of leaving?"
Rafi, a reservist who has been stationed at the village for two weeks,
tells us: "The love and sharing of these people is incredible. Every
Shabbat they invite the reservists home for meals. Every evening someone
comes with fresh baked goods, bourekas, coffee and tea."
In the South Hebron Hills there are 15 villages and, according to
Regional Council Chairman Zvika Bar-Hai, newcomers are most welcome.
According to Bar-Hai, the area has a total Jewish population of 5,000,
half religious and half non-religious.
(From _Makor Rishon_, 3 Mar 00, p. 25)
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BUILDING IN JUDEA
New neighborhoods are under construction in most of the Jewish
villages in the Etzion Bloc - totaling 1,000 new housing units.
Etzion Bloc Population Growth -
1997 1998 1999 2000
7,380 7,720 8,202 9,078
(_Gushpanka_ #89, 12 Apr 00, pp. 7-8)
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NORTH AMERICANS MOVE TO JERUSALEM
In 1999, 761 newcomers from North America settled in the Jerusalem
area, coming from New England, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Winnipeg,
Regina, Edmonton, Twin Cities, Tacoma, Huntsville, Redwood City,
Montreal, Toronto, Baltimore, and San Antonio.
(_The Voice_, AACI Jerusalem, March-April 2000, p. 4)
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Websites to Visit
JERUSALEM - CAPITAL OF ISRAEL
On-the-scene photographs, detailed maps, and incisive text review 200
years of Jewish life in the holy city of Jerusalem in the new Jerusalem -
Capital of Israel website sponsored by Jerusalem Archives.
Currently active sections: 1838-1915, 1916-1947, War of Independence,
Documents. See: www.jerusalem-archives.org
* * *
75 LINKS TO JUDEA AND SAMARIA
Chanan Morrison of Mitzpe Yericho has created a new website with 75
links to information and photos on specific Jewish villages in Judea and
Samaria. Visit: http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/yishuvim.htm
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A Secret for 52 Years
THE GOOD ENGLISHMAN
Arye Bender
On 13 April 1948, a convoy of medical personnel on its way to Hadassah
Hospital on Mount Scopus was attacked by over 200 Arabs in the Jerusalem
neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrach. The convoy was trapped for ten hours,
absorbing thousands of bullets and scores of grenades, leaving 78 dead
and only 28 remaining alive. Asher Rahav, commander of the Haganah
security detail for the convoy, was wounded when his armored car struck a
mine. As he lay in the pit created by the explosion, covered with blood,
he suddenly looked up to see a tall, blond British officer who said, "My
name is Johnny Howard. How can I help you?" Lieutenant Howard personally
saved 3 others from the convoy and retrieved weapons and secret papers
which he gave to Rahav.
Ten days later, Howard met Rahav again and informed him of the exact
time of the British departure from "Bevingrad," the British government
complex in the center of the city, information which allowed the Haganah
to move in before the Arabs took control.
John was born to a Christian family in Australia. During World War II
he was an officer in the Australian Army artillery corps and fought
against the Japanese in the Pacific. In Burma he served under the
legendary British officer Orde Wingate, who had trained special Jewish
commando units -- the "night squads" -- that protected Jewish villages
during the Arab uprising in Eretz Israel in 1936-1939. Influenced by
Wingate's pro-Zionist attitude, Howard requested to serve in Palestine
after World War II ended.
He was posted as an intelligence officer in the Old City of Jerusalem,
where he soon made contact with the intelligence unit of the Haganah in
the city. Levy Yitzhak, the commander of the unit, has written that
Howard secretly supplied the defenders of the Jewish quarter with six
desperately needed weapons including a Bren machine gun. All this was at
a time when the British soldiers were quite hostile toward the Jewish
defenders. The British confiscated their weapons, destroyed their
defensive positions, and even opened fire on them, killing Jewish
fighters. During April 1948, there were more shootings by the British
than by the Arabs.
At one point, Howard warned Jewish leader Mordecai Weingarten of a
search for weapons the British were about to conduct in the Jewish
synagogues. Howard himself commanded the search unit and, of course,
found nothing.
On 30 April 1948, John Howard defected from the ranks of the British
Army. British Intelligence began to suspect his activities and he was
brought to Haifa for investigation. Fortunately, the British army was
preoccupied with preparations for withdrawal from the country and Howard
was guarded only lightly. In the middle of the night he crossed over to
the Haganah-controlled sector of the city, driving a truck towing a
25-pound English field cannon, the first artillery piece of the IDF.
Howard became Mike Landshot and organized an artillery unit of
overseas volunteers which served in the Galilee during the War of
Independence. On 14 July 1948, five Syrian tanks left the captured
kibbutz Mishmar Hayarden and began moving toward Ayalet Hashachar,
threatening to cut off the Upper Galilee from the rest of the country.
Armed only with incendiary shells and flares which he knew would barely
scratch the tanks, he lay down a barrage of flame and smoke of such
impact that the Syrians, assuming they were facing a much larger force,
decided to withdraw.
Landshot served for ten years as an artillery officer with the new
Israel Defense Forces, during which time he converted to Judaism. He
lives quietly today in Israel under the name Michael Amir, now 77, owner
of Sharon Tours travel agency in Ramat Gan.
Amir agreed to be photographed for this story but refused to be
interviewed. "I did what I did not to receive any prize from anyone. I
see myself as a patriot and a Zionist. I care about what is happening in
the country. Why should anyone want to know what happened so many years
ago? It is more interesting what is happening today, and I ask myself if
this is what I fought for."
* * *
Three other known British army defectors in the War of Independence
were Desmond Rutledge, Michael Flanigan, and Harry Macdonald who, on the
day the British left Haifa, drove two Cromwell tanks across the Haganah
lines. Rutledge, a British sergeant major, was in love with Miriam, a
Jewish girl of Yemenite origin whom he was to marry.
Another British officer who did not defect but volunteered for the IDF
in the War of Independence was Thomas Derek Bowdon, who was to become
David Appel. Bowdon had served as a paratroop officer in Mandatory
Palestine and in 1944 was captured by the Germans at Arnhem in Holland.
His SS interrogators found letters from Jewish girls from Palestine in
his possession, and sent the "Jew-lover" to Bergen-Belsen for a month to
work bringing bodies to the burning pits. The experience strongly
affected the British officer who, when finally discharged from the army,
volunteered to help the Jewish state. He joined the IDF and fought with
the Seventh Battalion. In 1949 he was one of the founders of the IDF
Paratrooper School and wrote the first training manual for the school.
(_Maariv_, Pesach, 19 Apr 00, p. 20.)
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THE SONG OF PALESTINE: A POEM
(A poem from an 8th grade book used today by the Palestinian
Authority, read by MK Rabbi Chanan Porat to Israel's Knesset):
"My brothers, the oppressors have crossed all lines. We must therefore
have jihad [holy war], self-sacrifice. How long will we allow them to
steal our Arab lands? Take your sword out of its sheath! We will burst
forth to a war of fire and blood. Death will call, the sword will go wild
with killing! Young Palestinians, redeem your land!"
(Arutz 7 News, 9 Sep 99)
* * *
WHAT ARE PALESTINIAN CHILDREN STUDYING?
Two Israeli researchers - Israel Resource journalist David Bedein and
Palestinian Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus - have just completed a
joint study of the Palestinian Authority school system.
One part completed by Itamar Marcus deals with PA Teachers'
Guides. "The teachers are instructed to present Israel as a 'thief'
devoid of legitimacy...to deny Israel's right to exist, and
inculcate hateful opinions regarding Jews, Zionism and the State of
Israel....The teachers are repeatedly encouraged to indoctrinate the
children to be willing and even eager to fight and destroy Israel in
Jihad [Holy War]." An in-depth study of a 12th-grade text entitled "The
Contemporary History of the Arabs and the World" reveals that the teacher
is directed to convey the following messages to students:
* Zionism is an example of Nazism, Fascism and racism.
* Zionism endangers Arab society and must be stopped.
* The Jews' evil behavior causes anti-Semitic persecution.
* Jews welcome their own persecution because it is profitable.
(Arutz Sheva News Service, 10 Apr 00, www.ArutzSheva.org)
* * *
MONITORING INCITEMENT IN THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Herb Keinon
Adulation of the terrorist bomber responsible for killing 50 Israelis,
Holocaust denial, negation of Israel on the map: If that's what is in the
"fun" sections of the mainstream Palestinian press, you can only imagine
what lurks on its editorial pages, or in the hard-news stories.
Itamar Marcus, the 46-year-old director of Palestinian Media Watch,
wants to know what's there, and he wants everybody else to know as well
because he staunchly believes that what's written in the press, broadcast
on television and radio, and published in Palestinian schoolbooks is a
truer gauge of Palestinian intentions than any promise Yasser Arafat
gives Ehud Barak or Bill Clinton.
"After the 1996 elections I realized that there were two perceptions
of the pace process: our perception and the Palestinian perception. At
that point I set up Palestinian Media Watch with the goal being to
monitor how they were educating their people." The organization is
funded primarily by private donations from Israel and abroad.
"The real question in peace is what they [the Palestinian Authority]
are teaching their people. Are they saying throw out the old hatred and
start living in peace with Israel, or are they saying that Israel is here
only temporarily, and ultimately will be destroyed? Unfortunately, the
latter is the message seen regularly on TV, in newspapers, and in
textbooks."
Marcus has five translators who every day go through three major
Palestinian papers: Al-Hayat al-Jadida, the official Palestinian
Authority paper; the "semi-official" Al-Ayyam; and the independent
Al-Kuds. In addition, the team translates the Palestinian Authority's
main television and radio newsreels. All the translators are veterans of
military intelligence where they performed similar translating tasks.
After providing Education Minister Yossi Sarid with a package of
material recently, Marcus received a reply that read, "I am sorry to see
that things that shouldn't be said are being said in the media and the
textbooks. At a later stage we will have to deal with that as well."
"That is his mistake," says Marcus. "If you can allow an entire
generation to go by and allow the continued teaching of this type of
material, you are talking about the continuation of terror, of hatred. If
we are continuously portrayed as people who stole their land, that will
breed terror, not peace."
"We signed an agreement in Oslo a number of years ago, but if you read
the papers you will have no idea that these agreements were supposed to
lead to peace. Israel has yet to appear on a PA map. Every time we see a
clip from the classrooms, we notice that they have a map, but Israel is
always referred to as Palestine. Israel also doesn't appear on the map on
Palestinian television. We don't exist. The map says Palestine, only
Palestine. What we see in the schoolbooks is 'West Bank' and 'Gaza.' The
other part is called 'occupied Palestine.'"
"What they are teaching the people is that Israel is a technical
aberration, another conqueror that eventually they will be rid of, like
the Crusaders. The danger in this attitude is that it will ensure that
the conflict will continue."
"They regularly use the word 'colony' to refer to Israel," Marcus
points out. "Everything beyond the 'green line' are settlements, but
everything inside the 'green line' are colonies. When you tell your
people over and over again that the Jews are colonialists, that they have
no right [to be] here, that they are evil people who have stolen your
land, and that you should be hating them because of it, you are breeding
terror, breeding terrorists. Teach a kid that everything was wonderful
until the Zionists came and stole their land, and any normal child is
going to say, 'I'm going to grow up, defend my land and get it back.'"
Marcus says he is not calling to stop the peace process, but rather to
start it. "The process is not just about having negotiations and giving
away more land. The process means telling our children that the whole
land may be Eretz Israel, but that the PA exists, they are here, and we
are going to have to give them land because we want to live with them in
peace. But I want to hear that from the other side as well. I want to
hear the other side say: 'The Jews are here and have a right to be here.'
But that is not their message, and until that message comes across, we
will suffer from terror forever."
"Unless they start teaching their people that Yihye Ayash is not a
hero but the murderer of dozens of people who were just riding in buses
or walking in the street, then there will be no chance for peace."
(From "War on Words," _Jerusalem Post_ Magazine, 14 Apr 00, p. 10+).
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INTERVIEW WITH MK AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN
Q: There has been a peace process happening for years.
A: There is no peace between the peoples. There is peace between us
and the Arab elites. Peace in the Middle East doesn't come from
agreements, but from a strategic balance between the nations. There is no
meaning to any of the agreements we sign with the Arab states.
Q: We signed international peace agreements.
A: We didn't sign with the states, only with the ruling elite. Take
Jordan. The ruling dynasty is living on borrowed time and Muslim
extremists control the Jordanian parliament. The operating orders to
Hamas come from Jordan, not Gaza. The Palestinians control the Jordanian
economy, and there is no widespread support for peace with Israel, rather
the opposite. All of the professional associates in Jordan are very
anti-Israel. Three Jordanian journalists who visited Israel were
expelled from their journalists association.
Ninety percent of the wars in the Middle East are between Muslims and
not connected with us in any way. There was Egypt-Libya, Egypt-Sudan,
Iraq-Iran, Iraq-Kuwait, South Yemen-North Yemen, 1001 quarrels and
victims.
Saddam Hussein had signed a treaty of friendship and peace with the
Shah of Iran. When the Shah fell and his army fell apart, Saddam
perceived the other side to be weak and attacked immediately. Soon after
the war ended he attacked Kuwait, a state which had supported him during
the war with Iran.
Q: And what do you learn from this?
A: Very simple. When the balance of forces changes in the Middle East,
the side that feels strengthened takes advantage of this and attacks.
Today there is a weakening in the strategic balance between Israel and
the Arabs. The moment they perceive we are weak enough, they will seize
the opportunity.
Q: Are you talking about a change in the power of the IDF?
A: The power of a state is not measured only by its military
capabilities. The Soviet Union didn't break up because its army was
small. East Germany didn't fall because its security services were
ineffective. What caused their declines were the splits in the society,
the differences and opposing interests within the public, the lack of
belief by the people in their leadership. Therefore, it's impossible to
keep saying that the IDF is strong, and to bury your head in the sand.
Q: What is your greatest concern?
A: The country working in the most organized fashion against us is
Egypt. This is a hostile country which encourages anti-Israel activities
throughout the world. They take the most extreme positions against us in
every international forum. Egypt also encourages Arafat to harden his
position against us. Our prime minister visits Egypt but never the
opposite. On Egyptian Independence day, the Egyptian Embassy here is full
of Israeli notables, but in Cairo the opposite is never true. The hatred
of the Egyptian press is no less than that of Goebbels, as it is
widespread among the intellectuals.
Q: Yes, but there are also benefits to peace.
A: The one who has benefited first from this peace is Egypt. They
received American technology, aid, international recognition, a working
Suez Canal, everything.
(From Eli Kamir, _Maariv_ Shabbat, 14 Apr 00, p. 4)
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HIDDEN JEWS IN POSTWAR POLAND
It was only when she died and her husband read her will that he
learned of her life: She was Jewish, and wanted to be buried in a Jewish
cemetery, not in the graveyard of the Catholic church to which he thought
she had belonged.
So successfully had the woman hidden her identity - and her husband
hidden his - that neither knew the other was Jewish.
(From Marilyn Henry, "At the Margins of Memory," _Jerusalem Post_, 21
Apr 00, p. B2.)
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*** BACK ISSUES ***
1993 - Vol. 1: Issues 1.1-1.6, 1994 - Vol. 2: Issues 2.1-2.6
1995 - Vol. 3: Issues 3.1-3.6, 1996 - Vol. 4: Issues 4.1-4.6
1997 - Vol. 5: Issues 5.1-5.6, 1998 - Vol. 6: Issues 6.1-6.6
1999 - Vol. 7: Issues 7.1-7.6, 2000 - Vol. 8: Issues 8.1-8.2
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