The settlements of Bethlehem are around the city. The settlements of Hebron are within the city. The City of the Ancestors is home to 600 Jews and 250,000 Palestinians; these populations are separated by laws, fences, and soldiers.
For hundreds of years, the Arabs and Jews of Hebron enjoyed a relatively peaceful coexistence. But in 1929, Arab rioters massacred 67 Jews living in Hebron. Those who weren’t killed fled the city, only returning when Israel took the West Bank from Jordan in the Six Day War of 1967. In 1994, mass-murderer Baruch Goldstein carried an IMI Galil assault rifle into Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque and opened fire, slaughtering 29 Muslims at prayer. In response, the Israeli government partitioned Hebron into two sections: H1, under Palestinian Authority control, and H2, ruled by Israeli law. The Arabs of H1 and the Jews of H2 rarely interact, and when they do, it is more often violent than not.
It’s sadly appropriate that this divide should have been birthed at the Mosque of Abraham, since the site on which it is built, The Cave of the Patriarchs, is the burial ground of Judaism and Islam’s common forebears. Abraham/Ibrahim and Sarah, Isaac/Ishaq and Rebekah, Jacob/Yaqub and Leah—to these six individuals both religions trace their genealogical heritage. Yet it is in Hebron, the burial place of their shared ancestors, that the Jews and Muslims of this land prove disgracefully incapable of coexistence.
Hey Zack,
Love the blog! One biblical/theological note and one pragmatic blog viewing note. From my recollection of the Koran, Islam only traces its /genealogical/ heritage to Ibrahim and not to the other Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs, as their tradition connects their heritage to Ishmael, who is the child of Ibrahim and Hagar (I don’t remember her name in Arabic). On my computer, the backdrop renders much of the text illegible, so I have to highlight all the text in order to read it,
Regards, and I look forward to continuing to read your blog!
Ben
Hey Ben,
Glad you’re enjoying the blog! Thanks for the correction re: heritage; it seems that while Muslims recognize both Isaac and Jacob as prophets, and honor both them and their wives, they trace their direct lineage only to Ishmael.
With respect to the technical problem, is it the white background of the text box that’s obstructing your view, or is it the image behind the text box? Let me know and I should have it fixed ASAP!
Z