Saturday, October 1, 2005
Coming Anarchy's "Chirol" has a report, with photos, of his trip through Hebron. Chirol describes himself as "an avid supporter of Israel," and I have no reason to doubt it. Israel's supporters should read his post and face potentially uncomfortable facts. Some of the individuals most likely to choose to live in a place like Hebron are also going to be the people most likely to be bad neighbors and cause the most difficulty for those, like the Israeli authorities, trying to keep the peace. Even if most of the Jewish residents are good folk who just want to mind their own business, they are necessarily going to include some number who are going to intentionally behave as pests (to put it euphemistically).
I always read accounts such as these, even friendly accounts, with great caution. I have written before about the witting terror-dupes of the ISM who travel to Israel and just accept any a-historical nonsense that's fed to them for propaganda purposes. Even for a well-meaning and otherwise canny observer, however, I think there's a tendency to let the surface images take hold and add a layer of narrative explanation for which there is little or no proof -- Hebron has never been the Riviera of the Jordan, for instance...that doesn't make it the settlers' fault. I noted one example in the comments to Chirol's thoughtful post, and would love to see a well-informed response from someone who really knows what's what in Hebron.
Nevertheless, again, it behooves those of us who support Israel to face the plausible aspects of Chirol's report. It shouldn't surprise anyone that not all Jews are saints - that some are doing more than just trying to live in peace. Yes, there are walls and checkpoints and hardships because Jews qua Jews are not permitted to live there and that there are people who want to murder the Jews who have the temerity to challenge Arab racism, but we should also recognize that there are some Jews who make it difficult in turn on their own supporters. (Let me emphasize that again, just in case: I understand that the walls and soldiers are there to keep people from being murdered, and aren't there just to make life gratuitously tough for Arabs. People who don't like those walls and inconveniences must recognize how difficult the murderers in their midst make it for those of us who would otherwise advocate for easing those difficulties.) We may support the idea of Jews living, as they did in the recent past, in Hebron, but practicality is another matter. As I once heard Alan Dershowitz remark, of course it's just that Jews live in a place they inhabited continuously for millennia (Hebron was one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities on the planet prior to the 1929 massacre, and there are still families with ties there), but for practical reasons they may not be able to for the time being. Everything is a balance of costs and benefits. Is it worth fighting it out in Hebron? Maybe, maybe not. Just be aware of what that fight entails and the images and dilemmas it creates.
Hi -
I am also cautious - about too quickly declaring other Jews to be "less than saintly"! This is especially true considering that the Palistinians have distinguished themselves by their lies, deceptions, and wanton violence.
I am equally cautious about arguments that "for the time being" we evacuate Hebron, and other areas. It is increasingly clear that the battle for Israel is a fight of numbers, presence, and unabashed claim of rightful ownership. And the Palis have made it a zero-sum game.
Israeli attempts to "be reasonable" - to "understand the Palistinian narrative" and their suffering - have backfired by completely delegitimizing Israel's very right to exist.
Letting the Temple Mount be trashed, giving up our valid claims to historical places like Hebron and Nablus, strenuously avoiding references to our own history in this place (largely because of the secular elite's squeamishness about Judaism, The Religion) - these have all cost us dearly in the battle for world opinion, and have sapped our own morale and motivation here in Israel.
It is a reflex among certain Jews to distance themselves from any group that is "too Jewish" or are branded as "troublemakers". No, no, no - we are the good, cultured, resonable Jews, not at all like those "OstJuden".
But the world never makes those fine distinctions between Jews. The participation of Israeli voices denouncing our "apartheid regime" and calling for Palestinian "liberation" only confirmed in most Westerners' eyes the Pali claim that ALL of Israel is a colonialist land-grab.
We have reached the point where our presence in Tel-Aviv is basically due to squatter's rights. The fundamental legitimacy of Israel has been undermined.
Remember the Israeli general who had to flee the UK to avoid being tried for "war crimes"? Every Israeli soldier or politician is subject to similar attack/delegitimization .
The Amos Ozes and Yossi Beilins who sucked up to the European elites have, by their own pronouncements, made themselves and their country indefensibly illegitimate in Europe's eyes.
.... something about chickens coming home to roost....
I attach my post from the site you quoted, which answers some specific answers about the Hebron situation.
Mike wrote:
OK, I got the solution. The Palis agree to let Jews live and pray in Hebron as they have for 4000 years and the Israelis agree to do away with the checkpoints?
– - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
For centuries of Arab rule, Jews were forbidden from even entering the Cave of the Patriarchs – the major holy place of Hebron. This is a Herodian-era Roman building that was converted into a mosque. Jews were only allowed to stand on the seven step of the outside staircase – among the other humiliations and taxes imposed upon them and all non-Muslims.
There is no “status quo†to return to – the hazy-focused pastorale of Arab Palestine is a fabricated nostalgia for a place that never existed.
The notion that the Arabs were just brimming with multi-culti good will until the Israelis “occupied†Hebron is equally false.
There is a reason the checkpoints are there.
Solomon asked how the Jewish settlers know which houses are Jewish. Simple: the Jewish quarter was decimated by an Arab pogrom in the 1930s, so there are clear records of which houses were Jewish until VERY recently. There are also often Jewish symbols and names carved into the lintels of the facades.
NONE of the “oppressive settler extremists†living in Hebron has taken over Arab areas. They are all living in the old Jewish quarter, and have refurbished Jewish properties – some of which were seized during the 1967 war, some of which were purchased from their Muslim usurpers.
In every case Jewish residence and ownership into the 20th century have been documented.
For more information:
www.hebron.org.il/
Thanks Ben-David. Your post provides a lot of food for thought, and your comment at the other blog was indeed very helpful.
Solomon,
You were right to call him on the question of ownership. There'd be a quick way to tell, that I doubt that Chirol is aware of. Check the doorposts for evidence of a Mezuzah. When I visited Chevron 20+ years ago, that's what the Jews pointed out.
I don't find him to be an avid supporter of Israel. I find his acceptance of Syrian claims about Kuneitra to be uncritical.
http://www.cominganarchy.com/archives/2005/09/10/syria-update-3/
I don't think he's a friend.
I had thought of the Mezuzah thing, but I'd be careful on that as eventually someone will get wise and start prying them out from under the layers of paint they're probably under (I'm very curious what basis Chirol has for making that particular statement. I think that will be very informative).
I also didn't want to be too judgemental, not having read much of his writing in the past. Let's remember how much education an eye needs to see beyond obvious images in the Middle East. Even otherwise intelligent, canny observers can draw the wrong conclusions.
I'm not against anyone for being "too Jewish," and I can understand why Jews would not be feeling very kind or charitable toward their Arab neighbors these days, but the fact is that, as someone trying to fight the good fight on Israel's behalf, and who wants it to remain the "good fight," images of settlers and soldiers behaving badly, if true, make Israel's case much, much more difficult to make, regardless of the reasons behind them.
You don't have to worry about demonizing the 'settlers' - Haaretz and other left wing papers in Israel do a great job of that on their own not that there isn't truth to it - it's just that the idea of the late drinking Tel Avivite preeching to the guy living on the front lines in the West Bank, Hebron particularly - makes me a little nauseous.
Anyway, there's a good discussion going on at the guy's comment section.