Hebron Etzion
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/Kiryat \ _______ ______ _____________
/ Arba \ / Efrat \ / \ / \_______
___/ \____/ \__/ \____/ Maaleh Adumim
######### #### #### # Tekoa ______
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"Rebuilding Jewish Life in Judea, Israel"
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JUDEA ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE Vol.9, No.6 Kislev-Tevet 5762/Nov-Dec 2001
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Website: http://www.womeningreen.org/judea OUR 9TH YEAR!
Contents:
* One Last War To Fight
* Hunting PLO Mortars
* Avenging His Father
* Barbara Olson, Terrorist Fighter
* Music Review: David "Harpo" Abramson - That Homegrown Jewish Sound
* "No" To Ethnic Cleansing
* The Occupation Canard
* Israeli Settlements and International Law
* What is the Alternative to Oslo?
* Cherry Blossoms from Judea
* Website Review: JCPA.ORG - A Treasury of Jewish Political Content
* In Jedwabne
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ONE LAST WAR TO FIGHT
Leora Eren Frucht
The IDF brigade patrolling the seam that separates Palestinian
towns and villages from the Jewish population in the Sharon Valley has
been reinforced by volunteer reservists who are beyond the regular
call-up age. Since the end of August, some 200 experienced reservists,
ranging in age from 47 to 76, have patrolled the line, with another
1,000 slated for duty over the next few months. And many more are
applying, says the IDF Spokesman's Office.
Who are these graying men, and a few women, who refuse to put away
their uniforms? They come from kibbutzim in the north to Eilat in the
south. There's even an Israeli-born businessman and longtime resident
of Miami who volunteers in every war. There are also Druze and Beduin
among the volunteers, and they range in rank from private to general.
There's even a member of the Knesset in the current group: Motti
Mishani, 57, of Holon, from the Gesher party.
What unites most members of this disparate group of people is a
burning desire to serve. A year and a half ago, Yosef (Yoske) Rivenheim
wrote a letter to IDF Chief of General Staff Shaul Mofaz (a former
pupil of his, he notes) asking to serve in Lebanon. At 76, Rivenheim
has fought in wars that his commanders have only read about.
When Itzik Naveh, a 60-year-old farmer from Kibbutz Moledet in the
Jezreel Valley, finishes his tour of duty near Kalkilya, he will take
the weekend off and then head up to the Gilboa area for another 12-day
tour of duty.
The volunteers are stationed at three bases - in the Jordan Valley,
near Jenin, and near Kalkilya. They have to be medically fit (one-third
of the applicants have been rejected). They undergo two days of
training including target practice and then work alongside regular
recruits. A jeep patrol will usually include a driver and commander
from the regular army and two older volunteers.
"We do everything they do," notes Shlomo Kubrovitz, 69, who began
his military career as an underaged soldier in the War of Independence.
"When a soldier who's been here a year encounters a person with 40
or 50 years experience, the quality of the operation improves," says
Gadi Meir, 58, noting that the volunteers often have a higher military
rank than their commanders.
And the reactions of the regular soldiers? Erez, 21, thinks "these
guys are great. They do everything we do. They give from the heart;
they treat us like their sons. I can only hope there will be more
volunteers. This is real cooperation. My hat goes off to them."
The only other time the IDF had volunteer troops along a front was
in the 1969-70 War of Attrition. Then, the army recruited volunteers -
only officers - to man the line along the Suez Canal.
These men in their 50s, 60s, and 70s bring the voice of another era
to the places where they serve. "My parents were founders of a
kibbutz," says Amos Ron, in his 60s, who was born on Kibbutz Gvaram
north of Gaza. "I feel it's my duty to continue the Zionist
enterprise."
Itzik Naveh, a veteran kibbutznik stationed at a roadblock near
Kalkilya, reported "At least five people stopped to ask me what I was
doing there, and when they heard, they wanted to know how they, too,
could join." At one point, when someone questioned the use of the word
"patriots," Naveh answered: "I AM a patriot. You," he says to the
skeptic, "may be here to get away from your wife, but I am most
definitely a patriot. This is the call of the hour."
(From _Jerusalem Post_, 9 Nov 01, B3)
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Jewish Heroes:
HUNTING PLO MORTARS
I am Moshe, a 19-year-old soldier in the IDF. I would rather not
give you my last name as I serve in a special unit in the IDF that is
sometimes called on to find terrorists. My best friend's younger sister
was killed in the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem by what you guys called
a Palestinian 'militant.'
I just got home for Sabbath and I am checking my email and surfing
the news on the Internet. On Wednesday night, Nov. 14, my unit received
orders to enter Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip area. For weeks and
months, the PLO have been sending mortars, RPGs, and other incendiary
devices into Jewish areas in the Gush Katif and Gaza areas from Khan
Yunis. The PLO, according to my studies of Oslo, are not supposed to
have these types of weapons.
Let me share with you what really happened when we entered Khan
Yunis. At 1 a.m., the lead tanks began to enter the perimeter of Khan
Yunis. The IAF gave us air cover with their helicopters, while we
infantry in our special forces started to split up in groups of 4 IDF
soldiers per section. The PLO who had been firing mortars on the Jewish
civilians who live nearby were still reloading their mortars when we
surprised them.
We shouted in Arabic to stop, and of course they did not stop the
mortar loading process. We fired and killed the two loaders and injured
the other three PLO terrorists. We continued to approach this large
building in an open area. Our intelligence had told us a few hours
earlier that this building contained a storage of mortars, RPGs, and
anti-tank missiles.
My commander, Duvduv, ordered us to surround the building while the
helicopters above began firing their missiles to keep away the PLO
defenders. I was the first to open the door of this building in Khan
Yunis. At 2 a.m. we stormed the building and arrested about 14 PLO
terrorists who did not even fire one shot in their surrender.
We radioed in for our empty IDF trucks to enter Khan Yunis and
remove the contents of the building. We counted 133 mortars, 60 RPGs,
and 43 antitank missiles. In addition, we confiscated boxes and boxes
of nails, the type that are used in the suicidal bombers' packages.
(Like the nails that exploded in Sbarro and blew up my friend's sister
in August 2001.)
We continued sweeping and searching Khan Yunis when at 3:15 a.m. we
encountered gunfire from the local school building's upper floor. We
knew that the school children were not in school at 3:15 a.m., so it
had to be more bad guys.
My unit began firing back and killed another 2 'school teachers'
(according to Yahoo). The incursion (as BBC labels it) was complete by
8 a.m.
(From the Internet, Nov 01)
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AVENGING HIS FATHER
Prof. Baruch Singer, 51, an electro-physicist at Israel's Nahal
Sorek nuclear research facility, was murdered by terrorist gunfire on
December 2, 2001, while driving near the community of Elei Sinai in
northern Gaza. Dr. Singer was on his way to pick up his son Oded, a
tank commander stationed in the area. After being hit by the initial
burst of gunfire, he managed to call Oded to tell him that he was hit.
Oded was among the force that responded to the attack, commanding a
tank that fired at the terrorists and killed them.
(From Arutz 7 News, 3 Dec 01).
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BARBARA OLSON, TERRORIST FIGHTER
Barbara Olson, wife of U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson,
phoned her husband minutes before her hijacked planed crashed into the
Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Her husband later described some
little-known details about his wife.
"She went to Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva Unviersity in New York,
not necessarily the obvious choice for a blond Catholic girl from
Texas. She was even told that she would never fit in, and that she
would be miserable, but she thrived at Cordozo. She was a huge success,
popping up for one reason or another with embarrassing frequency on the
cover of _Jewish Weekly_.
In her third year of law school, she somehow managed to finesse
herself into an internship with the office of legal counsel at the
Department of Justice in Washington. And, as a very brassy and gutsy
intern, she managed to be the only employee of the government of the
United States willing, feisty and fearless enough to personally seve
the papers on the PLO mission to the United Nations in New York
announcing that it was being expelled from the U.S. -- because they
were terrorists."
(_Wall Street Journal_, 30 Nov 01)
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Music Review: David "Harpo" Abramson
THAT HOMEGROWN JEWISH SOUND
Harpo is electrifying. Hearing him play, you want to phone up a
talent scout (if only you knew one) to come and discover this
incredible, polished performer who has settled with his family in the
Tekoa community in Judea.
Harpo's virtuoso control of an amplified acoustic guitar (and
harmonica) is matched by his smooth, rich voice, singing songs of love
for the Land of Israel and the People of Israel. His music strikes a
chord with the teenagers of Tekoa. They love it -- and are on their
feet, swaying and jumping with the vibrant music.
Wearing his trademark wide-brimmed cowboy hat that sports a small
Jewish star, Harpo is a part of the emerging Jewish culture in restored
Judea, playing the music of the coming generation, with the children of
the pioneers who have returned home to the Land of Israel.
Harpo's music helps keep us all sane as we learn to cope with Arab
terror. Sarit Amrani, 25, mother of 3 young children, was murdered just
below Tekoa on her way home to neighboring El David on September 20,
2001 (see Judea Magazine 9.5). On the 30-day anniversary of her death,
Harpo organized a free outdoor evening concert.
The concert was to be held at the murder site, but the army asked
us to move up the hill to be inside Tekoa. During the concert, held at
the community basketball court, at around 9 p.m. we heard the explosion
of a morter round that landed 50 meters from the concert's original
planned site, fired from the direction of Arab-controlled Bethlehem.
But up in Tekoa, scores of Jewish teenagers were dancing to Harpo's
sound. The songs are in Hebrew with a Shlomo Carlebach influence, with
many new compositions. Our kids know all the songs from Harpo's CD --
"Ahavat Yisrael" (Love of Israel) -- whose title song is eagerly
awaited by fans at his concerts. One song from the CD, "Shifchi,"
performed by his father -- professional guitarist/poet/singer "Ink Blot
Hurricane" -- is a reported favorite among young Tekoans serving in the
IDF.
There's a strong positive tone in Harpo's songs that resonates with
young and old alike. "I'm a happy person and I want to share the hope
that I feel," he says. "I love Israel and the energy around it. It's
the best example of how the Jewish people are constantly being
revitalized."
Harpo, 41, grew up with music, and joined the popular religious
rock band Reva L'Sheva in 1993 where, he says, "Yehuda Katz taught me
how to be a professional musician, and how to put together a band."
Today Harpo has his own group, Harpo and the Neshamot (Souls), a
merger with four young musicians from Efrat. "The kids I'm working with
bring in a new freshness that's revitalizing my work. They're inserting
their energy into my music. The result is greater than the sum of its
parts, and we're all having fun."
"Our goal now is to go out and play in as many places as possible,
to get to every Jewish village and bring them music."
"Also, I want to show the people what these kids can do, show them
the kind of generation we are raising. They're fit, good-looking,
energetic, with huge smiles. Our hard work has paid off. They are
really good kids, and I want to encourage the creation of culture that
comes from within our own communities."
An accomplished performer, Harpo has the ability to touch people
with his music. Asked how it felt to have that power, he replied, "This
is what draws people to be public artists. We play 'Ahavat Yisrael' in
every single show and it touches people every time. I give to the
crowd, they give back to me, and it creates a cycle, and we both put
more energy into it. It's like a nuclear reaction. It feels great to
touch people. It's a gift from God. It's a real thrill."
Harpo's CD -- Love of Israel (Ahavat Yisrael) -- is an experience
not to be missed. And the music keeps coming. Harpo has a new single,
"Ner Katan B'Afela" (Candle in the Dark), soon to be released to local
radio stations, and he's working on a second CD of new material, with
most of the songs already on hand. He's pleased with the new direction
his career has taken. "When I do a song, it sounds like me. I'm able to
achieve what I wanted to hear."
To book a performance of Harpo and the Neshamot, or to order the CD
Ahavat Yisrael, please email: harpo@netvision.net.il
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"NO" TO ETHNIC CLEANSING
Zalman Shoval
Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza as a result of Arab aggression
against it in 1967. Referring to Israel's position in the land which
was the cradle of Jewish nationhood and the fount of the Judeo-
Christian heritage as "occupation," is, to say the least, strange.
Until 1967, the territories were under Jordanian and Egyptian
military occupation. A majority of Israelis do not regard themselves as
"occupiers," tending to agree with David Ben-Gurion that historically,
morally and legally all the land between the Mediterranean and the
Jordan rightfully belongs to the Jewish people. Forbidding Jews to live
anywhere in the country is the equivalent of ethnic cleansing in
Bosnia.
(From _Jerusalem Post_, 30 Nov 01, A12)
* * *
THE OCCUPATION CANARD
Ron Dermer
According to international law, the "territories" are not now, nor
have they ever been, Palestinian land. At the very least, Judea,
Samaria and Gaza must be considered disputed territories on which both
parties have competing claims. The rights of Jews to settle throughout
the area was recognized under the League of Nations Mandate and the
rights of the Jewish state to retain "territories" necessary for its
security has been recognized by the UN Security Council.
It is legitimate for a nation to occupy another when that
occupation is an outgrowth of a defensive war, and when it is designed
to prevent further aggression by the enemy. Such was the case in the
aftermath of World War II, when both Germany and Japan were occupied by
foreign powers.
(From _Jerusalem Post_, 30 Nov 01, A12)
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ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
_The Historical Context_
Jewish settlement in West Bank and Gaza Strip territory has existed
from time immemorial and was expressly recognized as legitimate in the
Mandate for Palestine adopted by the League of Nations, which provided
for the establishment of a Jewish state in the Jewish people's ancient
homeland. Indeed, Article 6 of the Mandate provided as follows:
"The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the
rights and position of other sections of the population are not
prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable
conditions and shall encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency
referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land,
including State lands not required for public use."
Some Jewish settlements, such as in Hebron, existed throughout the
centuries of Ottoman rule, while settlements such as Neve Ya'acov,
north of Jerusalem, the Gush Etzion bloc in Judea and Samaria, the
communities north of the Dead Sea, and Kfar Darom in the Gaza region
were established under British Mandatory administration prior to the
establishment of the State of Israel.
To be sure, many Israeli settlements have been established on sites
which were home to Jewish communities in previous generations, in an
expression of the Jewish people's deep historic and religious
connection with the land.
For more than a thousand years, the only administration which has
prohibited Jewish settlement was the Jordanian occupation
administration, which during the nineteen years of its rule (1948-1967)
declared the sale of land to Jews a capital offense. The right of Jews
to establish homes in these areas, and the legal titles to the land
which had been acquired, could not be legally invalidated by the
Jordanian or Egyptian occupation which resulted from their armed
invasion of Israel in 1948, and such rights and titles remain valid to
this day.
_International Humanitarian Law in the West Bank and Gaza Strip_
International humanitarian law prohibits the forcible transfer of
segments of the population of a state to the territory of another state
which it has occupied as a result of the resort to armed force. This
principle, which is reflected in Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, was drafted immediately following the Second World War. As
International Red Cross' authoritative commentary to the Convention
confirms, the principle was intended to protect the local population
from displacement, including endangering its separate existence as a
race, as occurred with respect to the forced population transfers in
Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary before and during the war. This is
clearly not the case with regard to the West Bank and Gaza.
The attempt to present Israeli settlements as a violation of this
principle is clearly untenable. As Professor Eugene Rostow, former
Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, has written: "the
Jewish right of settlement in the area is equivalent in every way to
the right of the local population to live there" (AJIL, 1990, vol. 84,
p. 72).
The provisions of the Geneva Convention regarding forced population
transfer to occupied sovereign territory cannot be viewed as
prohibiting the voluntary return of individuals to the towns and
villages from which they, or their ancestors, had been ousted. Nor does
it prohibit the movement of individuals to land which was not under the
legitimate sovereignty of any state and which is not subject to private
ownership. In this regard, Israeli settlements have been established
only after an exhaustive investigation process, under the supervision
of the Supreme Court of Israel, designed to ensure that no communities
are established on private Arab land.
It should be emphasized that the movement of individuals to the
territory is entirely voluntary, while the settlements themselves are
not intended to displace Arab inhabitants, nor do they do so in
practice.
Repeated charges regarding the illegality of Israeli settlements
must therefore be regarded as politically motivated, without foundation
in international law. Similarly, as Israeli settlements cannot be
considered illegal, they cannot constitute a "grave violation" of the
Geneva Convention, and hence any claim that they constitute a "war
crime" is without any legal basis. Such political charges cannot
justify in any way Palestinian acts of terrorism and violence against
innocent Israelis.
Politically, the West Bank and Gaza Strip is best regarded as
territory over which there are competing claims which should be
resolved in peace process negotiations. Israel has valid claims to
title in this territory based not only on its historic and religious
connection to the land, and its recognized security needs, but also on
the fact that the territory was not under the sovereignty of any state
and came under Israeli control in a war of self-defense, imposed upon
Israel.
_Israeli-Palestinian Agreements_
The agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinians contain
no prohibition whatsoever on the building or expansion of settlements.
On the contrary, it is specifically provided that the issue of
settlements is reserved for permanent status negotiations, which are to
take place in the concluding stage of the peace talks. Indeed, the
parties expressly agreed that the Palestinian Authority has no
jurisdiction or control over settlements or Israelis, pending the
conclusion of a permanent status agreement.
It has been charged that the prohibition on unilateral steps which
alter the "status" of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which is contained
in the Interim Agreement and in subsequent agreements between the
parties, implies a ban on settlement activity. This position is
disingenuous. The building of homes has no effect on the status of the
area. The prohibition on unilateral measures was agreed upon in order
to ensure that neither side take steps to change the legal status of
this territory (such as by annexation or unilateral declaration of
statehood), pending the outcome of permanent status negotiations. Were
this prohibition to be applied to building, it would lead to the
ridiculous interpretation that neither side is permitted to build homes
to accommodate for the needs of their respective communities.
(Legal Position Paper, Information Division, Israel Foreign
Ministry - Jerusalem, May 2001)
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WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE TO OSLO?
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
Arutz-7 Israel National Radio asked over 20 leading thinkers of
Israel's nationalist camp to articulate their alternative to the Oslo
process. Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed - founding Rabbi of Beit El, Dean
of Beit El Yeshiva Center Institutions, and the Chairman of the Board
of Directors of Arutz-7 - responded thus:
"Specifically, the following must be done: 'Turn away from bad':
Nullify the Oslo Agreements, take the weapons from our enemies, smash
the terrorist leaders and those who dispatch the murderers, expel the
terrorist leadership, and don't sign any agreements with them. Then,
'Do good': Strive to strengthen our hold on the Old City of Jerusalem,
act to reduce the Arab presence on the Temple Mount with the goal of
closing off the Mount totally to everyone until the arrival of the True
Redeemer.
"We must strengthen the settlement enterprise in Yesha...with a
willingness to pay a price for our progress, and not to be deterred
from constantly advancing.
"We must stand strong in the face of international pressure....At
this stage there is no diplomatic solution. We must increase our
deterrence power until our enemies are defeated, until they understand
that the price they will pay for each strike against us will be too
high for them to pay....When the Arabs conclude that they truly want
peace with us, on the basis of 'peace for peace,' without any
concessions on our part, we will make peace with them.
"Arabs who wish to remain here under Jewish rule will be granted
personal freedom to live as they wish, but those who wish to undermine
the Jewish rule in the Land of Israel will not be able to remain. The
land will be divided into municipally-governed districts, and those
with Arab concentrations will be run by them. The central government
will be Jewish, however, and the State will be a Jewish one. Whoever
wants to live under Arab rule will have to leave for an Arab country,
and will even receive initial financial aid to help him settle in the
country of his choice."
(Arutz Sheva News Service, http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com, 21
Nov 01)
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CHERRY BLOSSOMS FROM JUDEA
The familiar cherry logo of Duvdevan (Cherry) Fashions, from
Kibbutz Migdal Oz in Judea, is spreading throughout clothing stores
nationwide. Duvdevan Fashions has quadrupled its growth in the past
year and a half.
According to Duvdevan's founder and director, Naomi Landau, "We
positioned Duvdevan as a brand name of better garments." Duvdevan
produces approximately 80 different styles over the course of the year,
manufacturing 1,500 dresses a month.
In addition to outlets at 40 stores throughout Israel, Duvdevan
brings its clothing to communities throughout Judea and Samaria to
accommodate families who aren't able to travel as much as they once did
in order to go shopping. "We have a team that goes to all the Jewish
villages," explained marketing manager Nurit Rashi. "They fit almost an
entire store in their van."
(From Efrat _Voices_, Nov 01, 14-15)
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DISCOVER A TREASURY OF JEWISH POLITICAL CONTENT AT JCPA.ORG
Publicly-concerned individuals, students, and teachers are
discovering a rich Internet resource for information and
documentation on the Mideast conflict and other important political
issues in the Jewish world.
JCPA.ORG, the website of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
- founded in 1976 by Professor Daniel J. Elazar and currently headed
by former UN Ambassador Dore Gold - offers a growing list of full-
text, on-line resources on a wide range of topics. They include:
* Jerusalem Issue Briefs - concise, 2-3 page, briefing papers
clarifying issues of controversy in the news.
* The Jerusalem Letter/Viewpoints series - including nearly 100
in-depth, studies on regional diplomacy in the Middle East; Israel,
the Palestinians, and the territories; the American Jewish
community; world Jewish communities, religion in Israel, minorities
in Israel, and a host of related topics. Popular titles include a
look at the use of Palestinian children in the intifada, the impact
of the Jewish vote in the U.S. presidential elections, an extensive
survey of American Jewish attitudes on religion in the "public
square," compulsory military service for the Druze minority in
Israel, and how weapons proliferation threatens Israel's future.
* Publications on Terrorism - Includes recent discussions of
"transcendent" terrorist movements like al Qaida and how to deter
them, Muslim immigrant groups in Western democracies, detailed
background reports on Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Syrian-based groups,
and 15 criteria for identifying potentially genocidal political
movements.
* Israel's Early Diplomatic Struggles: From the Debates of the
First Knesset - Chaim Weizmann convenes the First Knesset; David
Ben-Gurion debates Menachem Begin after the first armistice
agreements with the Arab states in 1949; plus a Glossary of Israel's
Founding Parties and Personalities - a short course in the landmarks
of modern Israeli history by prominent Israeli historian Netanel
Lorch.
* Jerusalem in International Diplomacy - the complete text of a
new 84-page study by Dore Gold detailing Israel's rights in
Jerusalem. The on-line report includes specially prepared maps of
the city, and is available in Hebrew as well.
* Recognition of a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State -
This 45-page report by international lawyer Tal Becker outlines how
support for a unilaterally declared Palestinian state could backfire
on such countries as Russia, China, and India, which face their own
secessionist movements seeking independence.
* The Daniel Elazar Papers - JCPA Founder Daniel J. Elazar was the
father of Jewish political studies. He wrote extensively about the
Jewish political tradition, Jewish communities worldwide, Israeli
government and politics, religion and society, and a host of other
topics. Some 240 of his most important articles are available
online.
* Jewish Environmental Perspectives - A new series of reports
reflecting the growing interest in the relation of Jewish tradition
to environmental issues.
* Jewish Political Studies Review Abstracts - Includes summaries of
167 articles that have appeared in this scholarly journal since 1989.
**********************************************************************
IN JEDWABNE
George F. Will
Sixty years ago, on July 10, 1941, half the Polish town of Jedwabne
murdered the other half. Of 1,600 Jews, about a dozen survived. Why did
the murderers do it? Prof. Jan Gross of New York University may not
realize that he has found the answer.
It is in his astonishing little book (173 pages of text) just
published by Princeton University Press. The title "Neighbors" is an
ice dagger in the heart, but only after the book has been read. The
word "neighbor" connotes moral sympathy ("neighborly") as well as
physical proximity. But not on July 10, 1941, in Jedwabne.
On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union which was
occupying the part of Poland containing Jedwabne. On June 23, a small
detachment of Germans entered the town. There were almost immediately
some isolated atrocities by Poles against Jews – one man stoned to
death with bricks, another knifed and his eyes and tongue cut out.
German policy encouraged pogroms by local populations, and there were
some ghastly ones near Jedwabne. One of the first questions asked of
the Germans occupying the town was "Is it permitted to kill the Jews?"
After the carnival of killing, the Germans reportedly thought the
Poles "had gone overboard" and said to them, "Was eight hours not
enough for you to do with the Jews as you please?" But the murderers
were not socially marginal people. At a town meeting – democracy,
really – Jedwabne's leaders met with the Germans. Gross quotes a
witness: "When the Germans proposed to leave one Jewish family from
each profession, local carpenter Szlezinski, who was present, answered:
"We have enough of our own, we have to destroy all the Jews, none
should stay alive. Mayor Karolak and everybody else agreed with his
words."
The mayor coordinated the killing, but otherwise, Gross says,
"people were free to improvise." Peasants from nearby villages got word
of the planned pogrom and came to town as to a fair. A Pole recalls
that "the Jewish population became a toy in the hands of the Poles."
The Holocaust has been called a manifestation of modernity because of
its industrialization of murder. But in Jedwabne hooks and wooden clubs
were used. A head was hacked off and pass-kicked around. To escape the
killers, women fled to a pond and drowned their babies, then
themselves. But most were burned alive in a barn while the town was
searched for the surviving sick and children. A witness: "As for the
little children, they roped a few together by their legs and carried
them on their backs, then put them on pitchforks and threw them onto
smoldering coals."
Gross estimates that half the town's men participated, and because
the killings were concentrated in a space no longer than a sports
stadium, everyone "in possession of a sense of sight, smell, or hearing
either participated in or witnessed the tormented deaths." A murderer
in uniform can resemble a cog in a machine, but the last faces seen by
Jedwabne's Jews were the familiar faces of neighbors. It was, Gross
says, mass murder in a double sense – "on account of both numbers of
victims and the number of perpetrators."
The Germans' involvement was confined to photographing events and,
in one instance, offering the sort of advice professionals offer
amateurs. A witness recalls that when Poles with thick clubs were
battering six Jews, a watching German said, "Do not kill at once.
Slowly, let them suffer."
At bottom, the explanation is not in their national history but in
humanity as it quickly becomes when severed from social restraints. So,
again: Why in Jedwabne did neighbors murder their neighbors? Because it
was permitted. Because they could.
(Newsweek, July 9, 2001)
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*** BACK ISSUES ***
1993 - Vol. 1: Issues 1.1-1.6 1998 - Vol. 6: Issues 6.1-6.6
1994 - Vol. 2: Issues 2.1-2.6 1999 - Vol. 7: Issues 7.1-7.6
1995 - Vol. 3: Issues 3.1-3.6 2000 - Vol. 8: Issues 8.1-8.6
1996 - Vol. 4: Issues 4.1-4.6 2001 - Vol. 9: Issues 9.1-9.6
1997 - Vol. 5: Issues 5.1-5.6
Back issues are available through the JUDEA website:
http://www.womeningreen.org/judea/index1.htm
To SUBSCRIBE (free), send an e-mail message with "subscribe" as the
subject to: amiel2@womeningreen.org.
JUDEA Magazine is a bi-monthly electronic magazine produced and
transmitted from Judea, Israel, specializing in stories about the
rebirth of Jewish life in a tiny and unique corner of civilization.
Mail address: Judea Magazine, Yael and Mark Ami-El, Editors; Tekoa;
D.N. North Judea, Israel. 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 by e-mail
to: amiel2@womeningreen.org
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Your comments and questions are welcome. Please reply to:
amiel2@womeningreen.org