We saw the colorful painted words on the wall (with white doves above them) in front of a school in Hebron: “FREE PALESTINE.” On closer examination, we noticed that someone had tried to whitewash those words with paint, but the message still is visible. This was our welcome to the largest Palestinian city in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Both of us were part of a 12-day sojourn to Israel and Palestine, sponsored by Interfaith Peace-Builders whose “mission is to give U.S. citizens the opportunity to see and understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict firsthand and to empower these citizens to educate their local communities and advocate for better US foreign policy when they return to the US.”
As we walked through Hebron, we encountered numerous Israeli military checkpoints with young soldiers, part of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). How did it occur that this once beautiful old city is now a walled-in-fortress, dying economically, and a virtual “ghost city?” One has to relate the actions of a Jew from Brooklyn, Baruch Goldstein, who had emigrated to Israel (called “aliyah,” the right of any Jew to return to their “homeland”). The Israeli state, on the other hand, has long rejected UN Resolution 194 (1948) which calls for the right of return for Palestinians who were driven from their homes, villages, and cities in 1947-48. Yet, Goldstein, as so many other immigrant Jews, received financial assistance to move to a new Israeli settlement adjacent to Hebron. According to the International World Court, the UN, and the Geneva Conventions, such settlements are illegal as they steal land that rightfully belongs to Palestinians.
This Jewish doctor from Brooklyn, Goldstein, decided in 1994 to go Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque and visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs, where it is alleged that Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca, and Sarah are all buried within a cave below. Apparently, Mr. Goldstein had decided that the Palestinians whom he saw as “dirty, filthy, uncivilized non-humans,” (“Arabs”) must be taught a lesson. So, he went into the mosque with a high-powered rifle and killed 29 Muslims, while wounding over 200. And he, in turn, was killed by Palestinians who rushed into the mosque while this extremist settler was reloading. Today, he is revered by many as a martyr and his grave is visited by many Jews who acknowledge him as one of Israel’s true heroes.
HEBRON: Hell on Earth for Palestinians
by William Thomas and Vince Stravino
William Thomas of Auburn, New Hampshire and Vince Stravino, of Bethlehem, PA, both members of Veterans for Peace, traveled to Israel and Palestinian during May/June 2017. Here are they’re observations