In
January, 1997, when the Hebron Accords were signed and implemented, the
state of Israel relinquished most of the city of Hebron to Yassir
Arafat and the palestinian
authority. A tiny slice of the city remained under Israeli security
control, accessible to Jews. Literally, 97% of the city remained
accessible to Arabs, with only 3% accessible to Jews.
Part
of the area remaining with Israel was the Casba, a large section of the
H2-Israeli zone, stretching from behind Beit Romano, today Yeshivat
Shavei Hevron, to Ma’arat
HaMachpela. This area, filled with Arab shops of all sorts, was also
home to Jews prior to the 1929 riots, massacre and expulsion. Despite
the fact that this Jewish property was not restored to its original
owners following Israel’s return to Hebron in 1967,
Jews did frequent the Casba, touring and purchasing anything from
clothes and shoes, to building equipment, and school
supplies. One store even had a kosher certificate, which was certified by the Kiryat Arba Religious council, where
pita bread and other kosher foods could be purchased.
Since
the advent of ‘peace,’ the Casba has been, for all intents and
purposes, off-limits to Jews. Israel refuses to allow Jews to freely
enter the Casba, excepting a weekly
one hour tour, usually on Shabbat and other, infrequent occasions. As a
result, this special, unique place, has transformed into a hotbed of
extremism, anarchism, and de
facto palestinian authority rule.
A couple of days ago Noam Arnon and I participated in short walk through the Casba. The
photographs speak for themselves. Many of the Arabs smiled at us; the anarchists didn't.
Much of what you
see is plain and simple incitement - in an attempt to heat up the Arabs
and heat up the area. There's also a cute picture of maps of palestine
on a small jewelry box - actually maps of the state of Israel. Cute.
It's our opinion,
here in the Jewish Community of Hebron, that the Casba should be open to
everyone, all the time. Unfortunately we have yet to convince the
'authorities that be' to
accept this, and stop shutting us out. But in the end, the real question
today is:
But in the end, the real question today is:
Who does the Casba belong to: Israel, the PA, the anarchists'? Judge for yourselves.
www.hebron.org.il (Hebrew)
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