The Holy City
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reach. The telephone lines had been cut. Later I saw saboteurs
at work—Arabs systematically stripping the wires for their
copper content. They would melt them into bullets.
We reached Hebron, the Biblical tombsite of Abraham and
Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, and finally Jacob. In more recent times
Hebron had the dubious distinction of being the first Palestinian town whose Jews were completely exterminated by the
Arabs; this massacre took place in 1929 during the Muftiorganized attacks, which he directed from Hebron. Built between two rugged hillsides, the town was a natural fortress,
known for the ferociousness, brutality, and homosexuality of
its inhabitants. The inspection of our papers was severe. I
passed again.
The road from Hebron to Jerusalem traversed ground of
hallowed antiquity. Here was the spot where, under the oak,
Abraham received the three angels and where, later, David was
anointed king. We passed Bethlehem, with its numerous
churches, and beyond it the Well of the Magi, where the Star
that they followed again appeared to the three Wise Men. We
drove past the remains of an aqueduct built by Pontius
Pilate. Then, as we came to Rachel's tomb, near which the
Jews had built Kibbutz Ramat Rahel