On Sunday, I took half a day off
work and went to Hebron with Becky, Anna, Greg, and Carly. Our guide was a Palestinian member of
the LDS Church, a part of the Bethlehem group (they have a little church and an
LDS group in Bethlehem, not big enough to be even a branch).
Hebron is a city about an hour
south of Jerusalem, and is a part of the West Bank. The West Bank is a huge chunk of Israel, almost all of east
Israel to the Jordanian border, and is officially considered “Occupied
Palestinian Territory” but is an area of land that is highly disputed with a
lot of political turmoil. It
composed of mostly Palestinians, 80% of the population, but in the last 40
years, Zionist Jews moved in and created “settlements”, little communities
trying to claim the land as part of a Jewish Israel. As a result, there has historically been a lot of tension
and violence in the West Bank.
Also, the Israelis have been building a wall around the West
Bank called the “Separation Wall”, in theory to protect the rest of Israel from
attacks coming from the West Bank.
To cross from the West Bank to Israel is inconvenient for
non-threatening American tourists, and nearly impossible for West Bank
Palestinians, and it was sobering to cross over to the West Bank and see the
visible tension.
Carly
drove us to the Separation Wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, we parked at
the wall and walked through security to enter the West Bank. We walked about 15
minutes, met up with Mohammed our Palestinian friend and tour guide, and took a
van taxi to Hebron.
WATCH:
We
walked through the old city of Hebron, stopped for delicious fried sugary
goodness wrapped in a mini pancake, and went to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, the
tombs commemorating where Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Leah, Isaac, Rebekah of the
Old Testament were buried. As with many Holy Land historical sites, it is
difficult to know how accurate the actual location is, but it still considered
holy by many and people worship at these sites and have very spiritual
experiences.
The
tombs are actually inside a mosque and to enter we had to pass security, take
off our shoes, and all the women put on a hooded cape for modesty. Then right inside the mosque there are
several little house-like structures, each one a tomb for one of the patriarchs
or their wives.
WATCH THIS:
After
the tombs, we went inside a ceramic shop and they let us play around on the
pottery wheel! It was my first
time, and I definitely was the worst one of the group (it takes patience and
finesse, which I apparently don’t have), but I loved it! It was one of those
surreal moments: here I am in Hebron outside the Tomb of the Patriarchs, making
miniature vases in an Arab shop.
Wow!
WATCH THIS:
But,
the Arab-Israeli conflict was more apparent here then anywhere else I have seen
so far. Our Palestinian tour guide
frequently pointed out spots of past violence, always saying after cynically,
“there will be no peace in this land until Christ comes again”. Perhaps that is unfortunately true.
Inside
the mosque, he pointed out the spot where an Israeli man entered and killed 29
worshipping Muslims 15 years ago.
As we walked through the old city of Hebron, Mohammed pointed out the
net above us, separating the Arab old city market from Israeli settlements and
told us how the settlers would throw down dead dogs and cats onto the net and
there would be a horrible stench.
He told us that when he was a kid, the old city market was a bustling
place like the Old City of Jerusalem, but because of the conflict, most shops
had to close down and it now was quiet.
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