Hebron

Last Sunday, Marta and I were invited by a friend to visit Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank, which is located 30 Kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is the second biggest commerical center of Palestine and has religious significance for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. Abraham's Mosque is located here, which included the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebeccah, and Jacob and Leah. Some also believe that Adam and Eve are buried here. Therefore, the religious signifiance to these 3 faiths is undeniable. Unfortunately, this has created problems between Palestinians and Israeli settlers living in Hebron, both of whom think they have rights to this holy place. Hebron is divided into 2 sectors, H1 and H2. H1 is under full Palestinian control, while H2 remains under Israeli control to protect the Jewish settlers living there. In the H2 sector, there are 4 Israeli soldiers for every one Jewish settler living there. In addition, the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) has armed each settler with weapons to "protect" themselves against the Palestinians. Hebron is a place where much violence has occurred and it continues to be a conflicted area. This was apparent, as we walked through the streets of the Soukh (the market). A once bustling area, the market is now nearly desolate, with only a handful of stores still open. As I looked above, I was disgusted to see that the storeowners were forced to put a net above their stores to protect themselves from the trash and junk the Jewish Settlers throw down at them. I have even heard stories of settlers throwing hot water down onto the vendors. This type of nonsensical violence is so frustrating and so impossible to understand.
Khalil, our friend, was excited to give us a tour of Hebron and to show us Abraham's Mosque, mentioned above. Unfortunately, this required going through a checkpoint, which was time consuming and unfair. Why should Palestinians have to go through a checkpoint to visit a holy site which is on their own land? Why should anyone, for that matter, have to do that? The first time we tried getting through, the soldiers refused us because it was the time of prayer for Muslims. This was very frustrating for Khalil, as he only wanted to show us around his city, and the soldiers were making it complicated. Luckily, we were able to come back later and see the Mosque, which was beautiful. While there, we started talking with a man who was present during the 1994 Massacre in Abraham's Mosque. On February 25, 1994, when over 800 Muslims were present at the Mosque for their Dawn prayer, the first of their 5 prayers during the day, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish American Zionist, entered at the back of the Mosque and threw a hand grenade into the crowd of worshippers. He then opened fire, killing more than 29 people and injuring more than 125. The man who we were talking to had not only been present at the Mosque this day...he was also shot in the arm, and his son, who came to the scene to see if his father was ok, was shot and killed. When he was telling this story, he kept saying "hamdullalah" ("Thanks be to God") and I was amazed at how he could say this. Even though he had experienced this tragedy, he was able to keep praising God. Throughout this story I was fighting back tears...I just could not believe how cruel and inhumane Goldstein was, and the scary thing is that some people commemmorate this day and go to his tombstone on each anniversary of the massacre to celebrate what Goldstein did. How could anyone celebrate something so tragic? How could anyone believe that killing Muslims, whose only crime was being in the Mosque at that time, was worthy of celebration?
Needless to say, my time in Hebron was full of ups and downs. It is a fascinating city, both for religous and commercial purposes. However, it is also a city fraught with conflict and violence. The landscape is beautiful, but it is also laden with Israeli checkpoints and soldiers with guns. The people are warm and friendly, but there is an unmistakable sense of anger and frustration with the situation.
The day ended well, with a trip to Khalil's village, 30 minutes outside of Hebron. His family showed us Palestinian hospitality and welcomed us with open arms into their house and into their lives. These people put a face to the "conflict" that we hear about. I will never be able to look at the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in the same way as I was before living here...I have learned so much from the people I have met, and I am so grateful for each of those experiences. Seeing and experiencing all of this is really hard sometimes, but it is a necessary part of learning and living here.