MAPMES does Hevron

Last Friday, I went with MAPMES (my masters program) on a tour of Hebron, guided by Breaking the Silence. Breaking the Silence is a left-wing organization of former soldiers who gather testimonies from ex-soldiers/reservists in order to expose IDF activities they see as immoral and bring about change in policy. The soldiers who led our group served in Hevron for three years and showed us the area where they were stationed. In that time, they say roughly 13,000 Palestinians moved out of their homes due to the intolerable economic conditions purposefully created by the IDF. Not the sort of thing that fills my Zionist-heart up with pride.

We drove through a number of checkpoints in order to get to the city. Here's the famous "Apartheid Wall" everyone hears so much about. Looks a lot like a fence to me. The fact that this is 97% of the barrier doesn't seem matter to CNN or BBC since the 3% that is a wall (because of the amount of shooting in those areas) makes for much better TV.

This is a Palestinian factory that makes most of the cement for Israeli communities in the West Bank (i.e. settlements).

I wonder if the man in the red vehicle below got the freeze order.

The beautiful, rolling Judean hillsides on the way to Hevron.

The first place we stopped at once we got to the city was Kahane Park. It's named after "Rabbi" Meir Kahane, who's racist Kach party was banned from the Knesset because it was, well, racist. When I asked the guide why the government funds a park named after a man banned from the government, he didn't have an answer.

Appropriately, in Kahane park is the grave of Baruch Goldstein, who on 25 February 1994, went into the Tomb of the Patriarchs and shot dead 29 praying Palestinians and wounded over a hundred others. The inscription on his grave and on the Kahane's plaque read:

"He was a lover of Israel, Great in the Torah, a Hero in Action and a Martyr."

Goldstein's grave continues with a biblical quote, "He was of clean hands and a pure heart."

Isn't it great when terrorists are praised in such beautiful language? Ugh. Why can't the crazies stay out of my religion?

Here's a view of the city.

And here's a view of the "ghost town" that we walked through. The main shuk used to be right here; now it's completely empty and Palestinians aren't allowed to drive in this area and can only walk in certain places.

This is an illegal outpost that has been built and destroyed nearly 40 times. Go law-enforcement!

Here's our guide telling us about something. Right before this, the other guide gave a pamphlet to a soldier on duty that explained to him the things he was and wasn't legally obligated to do. He seemed grateful.

On the right is a destroyed Palestinian house.

Here are some settlers riding horses.

Palestinians walking to the Tomb of the Patriarchs. A few minutes later, a settler drove by and called us anti-Semites. Good times.

Here I am in front of Ma'arat HaMachpelah/Tomb of the Patriarchs. Due to a longwinded settler, we didn't get to go inside. So what if it's one of the holiest places in the world, why should we take an extra 5 minutes?

This is a wall our guide put up that closed off the "only" meat market in Hevron. He said they had a party when they closed it since they all hated guarding it, until one of them pointed out, as they ate dinner, that no one else in the city would be having meat. It is sad a regrettable, but I can't help but think that in a city of well over 100,000 people, there must have been another market, that's just bad business to have only one. Maybe that's what happens when you don't let Jews in the rest of your city.

These four murals, show the history of the city of Hevron (as shown by the settlers). It isn't exactly inaccurate, but there are a few interesting points to them. There aren't any Arabs pictures in them.

Here is the founding of the city in biblical-times.

Here is the city in pre-modern times, with Sephardi Jews settling in after the Expulsion.

This shows the destruction of the community during the Arab riots of 1929. The settler we spoke to later on showed us the memorial to the fallen in the Hevron Museum. I think it is very interesting how when victimhood is so deeply ingrained in one's psyche that it prevents them from recognizing the suffering and victimization of others. This was clearly shown when he flat-out said no Palestinians had been evicted (they have been) and refused to countenance any similarities between the 1929 riot murders and those who were murdered by Goldstein.

Here is Hevron after it's Liberation during the Six-Day War. You'll notice the Israeli flag has been colored in Orange in honor of the anti-Disengagement movements. It was cut off in my photo, but on the bottom right-hand corner, the Messiah is riding in on a donkey.

Here are some Palestinians about to go through a checkpoint.

Some interesting graffiti. It's a copy of a popular bumper sticker reading "I *heart* *Jewish Star/Israel*" but here the Jewish start has been painted over with a Palestinian Flag.

A view of the rest of the city through a hole in the wall. I remember them saying there was 75% unemployment, though I find it hard to believe that a city with over 100,000 people, that looks so bustling, could have so many tens of thousands out a work.

Here is our other guide arguing with the police. Later on the cops stopped us from going into a Palestinian area to meet with a family. Though, now I'm wondering if there really was a family at all, or if they just brought us there so we would see them fight with the police.

All in all, it was a very interesting trip and I'm glad I went. But it such a charged area that I feel like everyone we spoke to (Breaking the Silence, the settlers...) gave us a skewed view of things.