Already long past time to reclaim Rachel's Tomb

...The Palestinians are renowned for the "tolerance" they show Jewish holy places. In the distant past they extended the Jews visiting the Western Wall and the Cave of the Patriarchs the same courtesy, and in the not-so-distant past they desecrated the synagogues of Gush Katif and Joseph's Tomb. Now it is the turn of Rachel's Tomb.

Nadav Shragai..
Israel Hayom..
16 February '14..

Hundreds of thousands of Jews visit Rachel's Tomb -- or her prison, to be more accurate -- every year. Our collective memory evokes images of a humble domed structure, resting in the shadow of an ancient olive tree on the outskirts of Bethlehem.

But the reality is strikingly different. Approaching the area, a fortified compound, reminiscent of a military prison, towers over you. It looks nothing like the iconic image we know from books, painting and religious artifact, and certainly nothing like the new stamp that has recently been issued in its honor.

Fifteen years ago, the defense establishment charged across our landscape, bending historical and environmental values before security needs. The Palestinians, who storm the tomb with stone and Molotov cocktails on a daily basis, left it no choice.

The Palestinians are renowned for the "tolerance" they show Jewish holy places. In the distant past they extended the Jews visiting the Western Wall and the Cave of the Patriarchs the same courtesy, and in the not-so-distant past they desecrated the synagogues of Gush Katif and Joseph's Tomb. Now it is the turn of Rachel's Tomb.

Who firebombs a grave? Like to guess?

Paula R. Stern..
A Soldier's Mother..
21 May '13..

It's an amazing concept. Why would someone firebomb a grave...and an ancient one at that?

I just read a news article that Arabs have thrown 290 firebombs (and or planted explosive devices) at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem in the last six months alone (that doesn't count hundreds, perhaps thousands, before that).

I actually know the answer as to why - it comes back to that concept of hating all that is different from them and worse, an attempt to erase any one else's past. Okay, I got that...sick...but I got it.

But seeing that headlines also reminded me of an article I wrote a decade ago. Only, it wasn't about Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, but her son, Joseph's tomb in Nablus (Shechem).

In February, 2003, Arabs rioted and burned the grave/tomb of Joseph, son of our patriarch, Jacob and his beloved wife, Rachel. Joseph was buried in Shechem after his bones were exhumed by the Israelites as they were leaving Egypt - a promise fulfilled not to leave his bones in a foreign land. His bones were carried through the desert, until they were brought home to rest in the land of his fathers. Only today, his tomb is found inside a Palestinian city. To get there is nearly impossible and only accomplished with an army escort, under strict protection.

Rachel was buried, according to tradition handed down over the centuries, in Bethlehem. You can get to her grave site, but you need to leave your car in Jerusalem and take armored buses - silly...it's only a few hundred yards. The area around the tomb has been fortified, cement barriers erected to protect those wishing to pray beside her grave.

(Continue)

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Disgusting! Kever Rachel Closed Due to ...Rock-Throwing

Sharon Katz..
Voices-Magazine.com..
18 December '12..

I didn't know whether to title this blog, DISGUSTING or HUMILIATING. But I decided for the former, because that's how today's scene at Rachel's Tomb seemed to me.

I drove, as on every other visit, to Rachel's Tomb to pray, together with my dearest Mother (until 120) and my lovely daughter. As we exited the car, we noticed groups of people standing around - half on the parking lot side of the street and half in the entrance to Rachel's Tomb.

Two armored police trucks were holding back the worshipers.

Arabs were throwing stones over the giant cement barrier. Smashed stones and shattered glass lay on the street in front of Kever Rachel. Policemen were calling out blurred instructions through their megaphones.

Visitors were told they could enter Rachel's Tomb, the burial place of the Jewish Biblical matriach Rachel if they could "run quickly and keep against the wall."

DISGUSTING.

That is how one comes to pray at the resting place of his grandmother - running for his life, hoping to dodge the stones and boulders lobbed from a few meters away on the other side of the wall?

I was so excited to cap off our lovely family day today with a family visit to Mama Rachel. My own mother had come 5000 miles to visit her loved ones, and every trip to Eretz Yisrael is made complete with a visit to and heartfelt prayer by the burial place of our beloved Matriarch Rachel.

Jews from all over the world put Kever Rachel - Judaism's third holiest site, after the Kotel and the Cave of Machpelah - on their must-visit list.

But not today.

Everyone stood around waiting, whispering, impatiently trying to show patience, shaking their heads in DISGUST.

(Video) Yaffa Tevuah and Kever Rachel - The Children Have Returned Home

ToldotYisrael..
24 October '12..

In 1945, Yaffa Tevuah was a 22 year old Lehi fighter imprisoned by the British in the women's prison in Bethlehem. While being taken back and forth to Jerusalem for questioning at the Russian Compound, the British Police headquarters in Mandatory Palestine, she passed by Kever Rachel (Rachel's Tomb) and recognized the landmark from pictures that hung in her home as a child in Moldavia. Seeking courage when facing her British interrogators, she drew strength from Rachel Imeinu (Mother Rachel) and comfort from her sense of returning home.



Toldot Yisrael (‪http://www.toldotyisrael.org‬) presents its firsthand accounts from Israel's founding generation.

Produced by Toldot Yisrael in cooperation with the iCenter and the Jim Joseph Foundation.
Cinematography and editing: Eitan Wetzler
Interviewer: Peleg Levy

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook.
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Trying to make Rachel’s Tomb disappear

Nadav Shragai..
Israel Hayom..
02 November '12..

It is doubtful whether any other place between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River illustrates the concept of self-defense that has trickled into Israel’s security mindset as well as Rachel’s Tomb. The formerly picturesque site is engraved in the memory of many people as a stone building with a dome on top and an ancient olive tree in front of it, on the road between Jerusalem and Hebron.

Although Rachel’s Tomb has been depicted that way in countless art works, stamps and holy books, not a shred of that nostalgic image remains today. Israel’s defense establishment wiped it out, wrapping the ancient site in a robe of concrete and cement.

This tiny Israeli enclave, on the seamline between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, is one of the “fruits” of the Oslo Accords. Visited by hundreds of thousands of Jews every year, it is surrounded by a series of fortifications, guard towers, military posts, firing positions built into the wall and barbed wire that would do an IDF outpost on the Hermon mountain range proud. The road to Rachel’s Tomb winds between two armed concrete walls. The anniversary of the matriarch Rachel’s death occurred last Saturday, and the traditional pilgrimage to her tomb took place the following Sunday.

Anyone visiting Rachel’s Tomb after not being there for many years is in for a shock. That was what happened to MK Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich, who recalled the picturesque Rachel’s Tomb of long ago and choked up with tears of humiliation and grief when she saw the way it is today. Eli Mohar, a poet from Tel Aviv, also called to “liberate Rachel from captivity” several years before his death, and even Haim Hanegbi, a dedicated leftist, lamented that the tomb seemed “uprooted from the landscape and stolen from the country.”

Mama Rachel, Pray for Us!

Malkah Fleihser
Kumah
07 November '11

http://www.kumah.org/2011/11/mama-rachel-pray-for-us/

The sun has descended, bringing in the 11th day of Cheshvan, the yartzeit of our mother Rachel. There are so many traits we may hope that we have inherited from her: her beauty, her determination, her compassion, her strength. Yet of all her lofty characteristics, one is most noteworthy – that is her unremitting, passionate love for her children.

Maybe you are a lonely Jew in a far off place, wishing you were connected to the greater Jewish brotherhood. Perhaps you sit quietly in the park, watching other women push baby carriages as your heart breaks and your arms lie empty. Maybe you shed tears for the pain of the exile, praying to return to the bosom of the Holy Land. Or you watch your baby sleep in her biblical homeland, knowing that enemies lurk in the mountains or in the streets outside, and pray that she comes to no harm.

These are the dear ones of Rachel, our matriarch. These are the special charges of the one who ceaselessly cries for her children. May we each take part in ending the suffering of the other, so we can ease the suffering of our mother. And when we do our part – and return to our borders – may we give her joy and pride.

I may have few accomplishments in my name. But of one thing I can always take satisfaction – I came home to Israel, and lessened the crying of Rachel. May we all merit to say the same.

“Thus said Hashem: A voice is heard on high, wailing, bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, she refuses to be consoled for her children, for they are gone. Thus said Hashem: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your accomplishment – the word of Hashem – and they will return from the enemy’s land. There is hope for your future – the word of Hashem – and your children will return to their border.” (Jeremiah 31:14-16)


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PA gives new names to historical Jewish sites

By Lidar Grav'e-Lazi
JPost
01/18/2011 10:06

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=204104

Since 2001 Palestinian civil studies books, "with the help of Arab and Islamic centers," change Rachel's Tomb to Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque.

A new report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) stated on Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority gave new names to historical Jewish sites, among them Rachel's tomb, in schoolbooks.

The report was recently prepared by IMPACT-SE following a UNESCO decision recognising Rachel's Tomb as a mosque only. According to the report, in school books from 1995 Rachel's Tomb was mentioned by its historical name. Since 2001 the civil studies books' editors reported to their students that they have decided "with the help of Arab and Islamic centers" to change its name to Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque.


The decision to rename the mosque has turned the feminine Rachel into a masculine Bilal. According to tradition, Bilal was a slave who was set free and then converted to Islam after meeting Muhammad of the Quraish tribe; he was later buried either in Bader near Amman or in Damascus, the legend says.

According to the CEO of the institute and the author of the report, Shelley Elkayam, the phenomenon is characterised by a few levels of significance, among them gender symbolism alongside subversive logical undermining and a slipping away from the modern-historical to the mythical-legendary.

Ottoman imperial decrees debunk Erdogan’s claim

Turkish PM's statement contradicts firmans (imperial decrees) issued by the Ottoman authorities recognizing Jewish rights at Rachel’s Tomb.

Jerusalem Post Staff
08 November '10

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government has been described as “neo- Ottoman” in outlook, told the Saudi paper Al-Watan in March that the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb “were not and never will be Jewish sites, but Islamic sites.”

But Erdogan’s statement contradicts firmans (imperial decrees) issued by the Ottoman authorities in Turkey recognizing Jewish rights at Rachel’s Tomb, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs has pointed out in a new research paper.

In 1830, the Turks issued the firman that gave legal force to Rachel’s Tomb being recognized as a Jewish holy site. Additionally, notes the JCPA’s Nadav Shragai, the governor of Damascus sent a written order to the mufti of Jerusalem to fulfill the sultan’s order:

“This is our order to you: [The following matter] was submitted to us by the subject of our order, the sage representative of honored Jerusalem’s Jewry and his translator that the tomb of esteemed Rachel, the mother of our Lord Joseph... They [the Jews] are accustomed to visit it from ancient days; and no one is permitted to prevent them or oppose them [from doing] this... It turned out that at this holy site, theyhave been visiting since ancient times, without any person preventing them or trespassing on their property and they [have it] as was their custom. In accordance with the respected judgment, I order that our commandment be issued to you so you will treat them accordingly without addition or without subtraction, without hindrance and without opposition to them by anyone in any way whatsoever – written August 10, 1830.”

(Read full story)

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Rachel's Tomb, a Jewish Holy Place, Was Never a Mosque

Nadav Shragai
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
No. 580
November-December '10

UNESCO has declared that Rachel's Tomb near Jerusalem is the Bilal ibn Rabah mosque - endorsing a Palestinian claim that first surfaced only in 1996 and which ignores centuries of Muslim tradition.


As opposed to the Temple Mount and the Cave of the Patriarchs which also serve as the location of mosques, Rachel's Tomb never served as a mosque for the Muslims. The Muslim connection to the site derives from its relation to Rachel and has no connection to Bilal ibn Rabah, Mohammed's first muezzin.


Rachel's Tomb, located some 460 meters south of Jerusalem's municipal boundary, has been identified for over 1,700 years as the grave of the Jewish matriarch Rachel. Many generations of Jews have visited the place for prayer. The depiction of Rachel's Tomb has appeared in thousands of Jewish religious books, paintings, photographs, stamps, and works of art.


There is a Muslim cemetery on three sides of the compound mainly belonging to the Bedouin Taamra tribe, which began burying its dead at the site due to its proximity to a holy personality. Members of the Taamra tribe harassed Jews visiting the tomb and collected extortion money to enable them to visit the site. With this background, Moses Montefiore obtained a permit from the Turks to build another room adjacent to Rachel's Tomb in 1841 to keep the Muslims away from the room of the grave and to help protect the Jews at the site.


Jewish caretakers managed the site from 1841 until it fell into Jordanian hands in 1948. In contravention of the armistice agreement, Jordan prevented Jews from accessing the site during all the years of its rule (1948-1967). On October 19, 2010, the anniversary of her death, some 100,000 Jews visited Rachel's Tomb.
In 1830 the Turks issued the firman that gave legal force to Rachel's Tomb being recognized as a Jewish holy site. The governor of Damascus sent a written order to the Mufti of Jerusalem to fulfill the Sultan's order: "the tomb of esteemed Rachel, the mother of our Lord Joseph...they (the Jews) are accustomed to visit it from ancient days; and no one is permitted to prevent them or oppose them (from doing) this."


Ironically, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, whose government has been described as "neo-Ottoman" in outlook, told the Saudi paper al-Watan (March 7, 2010) that the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb "were not and never will be Jewish sites, but Islamic sites."

On October 21, 2010, UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) declared that Rachel's Tomb near Jerusalem is the Bilal ibn Rabah mosque - endorsing a Palestinian claim that first surfaced only in 1996 and which ignores centuries of Muslim tradition.

In a series of decisions condemning Israel, the UNESCO board called upon the government of Israel to rescind its decision in February to include Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Israel's official list of national heritage sites. The sharp protests by Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Nimrod Barkan to the UN body's decision were expunged from the record by the chairman of the session, the Russian representative, on the pretext that they were too aggressive.1

A scrupulous examination of testimonies and historical sources demonstrates that defining Rachel's Tomb as a mosque does an injustice to historical facts and traditions anchored in both Muslim documents and Jewish sources, and constitutes distortion, bias, and deception. As opposed to the Temple Mount and the Cave of the Patriarchs which also serve as the location of mosques, Rachel's Tomb never served as a mosque for the Muslims. The Muslim connection to the site derives from its relation to Rachel and has no connection to Bilal ibn Rabah, Mohammed's first muezzin.

(Read full article)

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Ibrahim and Ibn-Rabah

Sarah Honig
Another Tack
04 November '10

Quite incredibly, representatives of Western democracies on UNESCO’s executive delivered a self-destructive blow to their own heritage when demanding that Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron be removed from the inventory of Jewish heritage sites. UNESCO’s resolution redefined them as mosques – as if Muslim from time immemorial. It sought to detach seminal biblical place-names from any Jewish connections.

It’s one thing to willfully subscribe to mind-blowing colossal deception; it’s quite another to shake the foundations beneath one’s own civilization.

Politically incorrect as it may be in our postmodern, multicultural existence, Europe’s and America’s democracies are constructed on Christian foundations. By accepting Muslim deconstructionist diktats, the West not only injures the Jews, it injures its own legacy.

To be fair, the world’s current most inveterate revisers of the past, the Muslims, are relative newcomers to the fanciful world of fabricated historiography. Long before Islam existed, Christians were obsessed with their own retrospective rewriting and they were preceded by pagans. Perhaps it was all already foretold by the biblical Balaam, who prophesied (Numbers 23:9) that Israel shall be “a people who dwells alone and shall not be counted among the nations.”

(Read full story)


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The UNESCO Outrage

Soccer Dad
02 November '10

UNESCO has declared that Ma'arat Hamachpelah and Kever Rachel (the cave of the Patriarchs and the tomb of Rachel) are Palestinian mosques.

The UNESCO board voted 44 to 1, with 12 abstentions, to declare Rachel's Tomb, which it referred to as the "Bilal bin Rabah Mosque," as "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories." Israel says Muslims had also traditionally referred to Rachel's Tomb in Arabic as "Qubat Rachel," and the claim that it was a mosque was coined by Palestinians for political reasons only following Arab riots in 1996.

(via Daily Alert blog)

This outrage is compounded by the fact that during the Arafat orchestrated tunnel riots of September 1996, the Palestinians attacked the tomb of Rachel.

The Tomb, located on the outskirts of Bethlehem, is the burial site of the Biblical matriarch Rachel and is under Israeli control. During the September 1996 riots, Palestinian mobs assaulted the site and hurled rocks and firebombs at it, causing damage to the outer part of the structure. Palestinian policemen on the scene shot and wounded Israeli soldiers guarding the Tomb. Today, Rachel's Tomb is again a major target for Palestinian attacks.

(Read full post)

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What’s next?

Fresnozionism.org
30 October '10

News Item:

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted recently to officially declare Rachel’s Tomb to be a mosque. UNESCO director Irena Bokova had previously stated “concern” at Israel’s decision to treat the tomb as a heritage site.

The vote called for Rachel’s Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs – the burial site of the other Biblical Patriarchs and Matriarchs – to be removed from Israel’s National Heritage list.

The Palestinian Authority has claimed that Rachel’s Tomb is holy to Muslims as the site of a mosque called the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque. The PA [Palestinian Authority] demands control over both the tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hevron, as well as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem….

(Read full post)

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Heralding Israel's heritage

Aron U. Raskas
The Baltimore Sun
05 March '10

The nation must defend its historical ties to the land against those who deny them

JERUSALEM--The Israeli government adds two culturally rich, millennium-old historic sites to a list of national treasures, and riots break out, followed by international condemnation. Yet, it is precisely this cynical, albeit predictable, response that demonstrates why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was right to add the Tomb of Rachel and the Cave of the Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs to Israel's National Heritage Sites.

There is no nation with firmer roots in a land than the Jewish people in the greater land of Israel. Yet, that great heritage has been under assault by Arab protagonists and their pusillanimous patrons for the longest time, and this has intensified in recent years.

As the Arab people began to recognize their inability to defeat the Jewish people on the battlefield, they began to cleverly craft a strategy of burying Israel's legacy in the arena of world opinion. This strategy seeks to eradicate the Jewish connection to the land and erode the support for Israel's legitimacy and very existence. Indeed, the increasingly global campaign to delegitimize Israel has been bolstered significantly by the reticence of past Israeli governments and other Jewish opinion leaders to assert the great Jewish legacy in this land.

The arrogation to itself of the "Palestinian" mantle was the first formidable success for the Arab population that shared with the Jewish people the land that came to be known as Palestine. Likewise, 50 years ago, there was nary a reference to a "West Bank" until that term was introduced by Palestinian Arab propagandists to eliminate further references to the time-honored titles of Judea and Samaria, as the land had been routinely referred to in maps, travel guides, newspapers and even U.N. resolutions.

(Read full article)
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What about Ezekiel's tomb, Irina Bokova?

Bataween
Point of No Return
01 March '10

UNESCO's Director-General, Irina Bokova, has 'expressed concern' at the Israeli government's plan to include in its renovation programme the biblical heritage sites of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's tomb in Hebron. We've yet to hear any expression of concern from Mrs Bokova at Iraq's planned islamicisation of Ezekiel's tomb, or indeed news that control of renovation works has passed to UNESCO, as promised by the Iraqi authorities. This lucid article in The American Thinker reminds us that Ezekiel's tomb, like the Prophet Ezekiel in his own lifetime, is in the forefront of a cultural war:

A short fifteen-minute drive outside Kerbala, Iraq, one can witness the frontlines of the clash between East and West, Islamism and progress. There, in the small town of Al-Kifl, lies -- at least at the time of this writing -- the 2,500-year-old Tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel. But for the first time in recorded history, the Tomb is threatened not by the collateral damage of war, nor the ignominies of thieves and bandits, but by a planned, government-authorized, and taxpayer-funded demolition.

(Read full article)
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The Palestinian Authority and the Jewish Holy Sites in the West Bank: Rachel's Tomb as a Test Case

Nadav Shragai
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Originally published
22 Kislev 5768 / 2 December '07

HEBRON, February 22, 2010 (WAFA- PLO news agency) - Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) condemned an Israeli decision to add the holy sites Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron and Bilal Ben Rabah Mosque (Rachel's Tomb) in Bethlehem to the list of Israeli heritage sites.

Rachel's Tomb lies on the northern outskirts of Bethlehem, about 460 meters (about 500 yards) south of the Jerusalem municipal border, and for more than 1,700 years has been identified as the tomb of the matriarch Rachel. "The building with the dome and olive tree" became a Jewish symbol, appearing in thousands of drawings, photographs, and works of art and depicted on the covers of Jewish holy books. However, today the little domed structure has been encased in a sleeve of reinforced concrete with firing holes and defensive trenches, and covered with camouflage netting.

According to the armistice agreement signed on April 3, 1949, Jordan was to allow Israel "free access to the Holy Places and cultural institutions and use of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives." In practice, Jordan did not allow Jews free access to their holy places, and for 19 years, until 1967, Jews could not go to the Western Wall, Rachel's Tomb, the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus), or other sites sacred to Jews which remained in Jordanian hands.

The Gaza-Jericho Agreement signed in May 1994 stated: "The Palestinian Authority shall ensure free access to all holy sites in the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area." The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, signed on the White House lawn on September 28, 1995, dealt with the status of 23 places holy to Jews. The Palestinians promised to assure freedom of access to those places. However, the Palestinians either made access extremely difficult or prevented it entirely.

In October 2000, Joseph's Tomb in Nablus was attacked, set ablaze and desecrated. Druze Border Police Corporal Yusef Madhat bled to death on October 4 because Palestinians refused to allow his evacuation. The "Shalom al Israel" synagogue in Jericho was also attacked. Holy books and relics were burned, and the synagogue's ancient mosaic was damaged.

In 2000, after hundreds of years of recognizing the site as Rachel's Tomb, Muslims began calling it the "Bilal ibn Rabah mosque" - a name that has since entered the national Palestinian discourse. The Palestinian claim ignored the fact that Ottoman firmans (decrees) gave Jews in the Land of Israel the right of access to the site at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Israel's experience since the Oslo agreements has shown that the responsibility for Jewish holy sites or the roads leading to them should remain in Israeli hands.

(Read full article)
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UN “Peace” Coordinator: Jewish Heritage an Invalid Concept

Jonathan Tobin
Contentions/Commentary
22 February '10

Earlier today I wrote about the implications of an important new archeological discovery that highlights the 3,000-year-old Jewish heritage in East Jerusalem. Such finds have political significance specifically because the whole focus of Palestinian nationalism has been to deny Jewish ties to the land and to attempt to rewrite history in such a way as to expunge the historicity and continuity of the Jewish presence.

But the reason why this issue is so important was brought home again today by a statement coming from Robert Serry, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. In it, Serry went out of his way to condemn the recently announced National Heritage Plan announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because two ancient Jewish religious shrines were included in the list of sites to be preserved and protected. Serry objected to the inclusion of Rachel’s Tomb outside Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron in the list of essential places in Jewish history, because the two are in the West Bank and thus, in his view, “occupied Palestinian territory.” The fact that they are located on land that is subject to dispute between the two parties is of no interest to the UN official who, despite his status as a peace mediator, is ready to dictate where the borders of a putative Palestinian state must be. But Serry’s argument is not merely one of borders, because in the same statement he claimed that the sites “are of historical and religious significance not only to Judaism but also to Islam, and to Christianity as well.”

It is true that Christians and Muslims have an intrinsic interest in any biblical site. And since Muslims, like Jews, consider Abraham to be one of their patriarchs, they have a religious stake in the Cave of the Patriarchs. But Muslims have never been willing to share this most ancient of Jewish shrines with other faiths. Throughout the history of Muslim control of the land of Israel, through the Ottoman era and even during the time of British rule, Jews were forbidden to enter the cave and were, instead, constrained to ascend no higher than the seventh step of the entrance to the sacred place. Jewish prayer inside the cave only resumed in June 1967, after the Israeli conquest of Hebron, after which the two religions have shared the place despite the history of tension and bloodshed in the Hebron area.

(Read full article)
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Document: Palestinian NGO's objection to Israeli "Heritage" ties to biblical sites illustrates absence of pluralism

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
22 February '10

Here is where we are:

1. There are numerous places in the "Holy Land" beyond the "Green Line" that are intimately linked to Jewish history and thus to Jewish identity and heritage. Recognizing these historical links in now way rules out a priori that some of these places may not be under Israeli control in a final status arrangement.

2. There are numerous places in "Historical Palestine" within the "Green Line" that are intimately linked to the history of Arab Palestinians and thus to the identity and heritage of Palestinian Arabs. Recognizing these historical links in now way rules out these places (Jaffo, for example) will remain under Israeli control in a final status arrangement.

3. In the instance that a place that is holy to both Islam and other religions is under Moslem control, non-Moslem prayer is prohibited at the site.

4. As demonstrated in the "Tomb of the Patriarchs" (a place that is holy to both Judaism and other religions is under Israeli control), non-Jewish prayer is also accommodated at the site.

5. As for the Hague and Geneva Conventions cited, inasmuch as Israel has preserved and improved rather than destroyed,.are we to understand that the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights believes that international law somehow supports discrimination against Jews in places holy to Jews and Moslems?

====================

PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Press Release

Ref: 10/2010
Date: 22 February 2010
Time: 11:30 GMT

PCHR Condemns Israel's Decision to Include the Ibrahimi Mosque and Bilal Ben Rabah Mosque on the List of Israeli Archaeological Sites

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns a decisions taken by the Israeli government on Sunday, 21 February 2010, to include the "Tomb of the Patriarch" (the Ibrahimi Mosque) in Hebron and "Rachel Tomb" (Bilal Ben Rabah Mosque) in Bethlehem on the list of Israeli archaeological sites.

(Read full PCHR press release)
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Rachel’s tomb and the protection of Jewish holy sites

Meryl Yourish
Yourish.com
19 January '10

Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977.

Part IV : Civilian population #Section I — General protection against effects of hostilities #Chapter III — Civilian objects

Article 53 — Protection of cultural objects and of places of worship
Without prejudice to the provisions of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954, and of other relevant international instruments, it is prohibited:

(a) to commit any acts of hostility directed against the historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples;

(b) to use such objects in support of the military effort;

(c) to make such objects the object of reprisals.

If, as Dickens wrote, “The law is a ass …” then, pardon the crudity, international law is donkey crap. Once upon a time, Rachel’s Tomb – where, according to tradition, the Matriarch, Rachel is buried in Bethlehem – was, as depicted in the mural below, located in an open area.

(Read full article)
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Where Were Hamas and Fatah?

Khaled Abu Toameh
Hudson New York
15 December 09

While Fatah and Hamas have been complaining and crying over the past week about the torching of a mosque in the West Bank village of Yasuf -- an act allegedly carried out by extremist Jewish settlers – where were Hamas and Fatah when Palestinians set fire to and damaged synagogues in Gush Katif following the IDF pullout from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005? Where were Hamas and Fatah when Palestinians repeatedly set fire to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus over the past decade?

Of course arson is a despicable and abhorrent assault on a holy site that requires all those who care about coexistence, peace and tolerance in the Middle East to strongly condemn it, and there should be no justification for any attack on any holy site, be it a mosque, church or synagogue.

But those who remain silent or condone attacks on other people’s holy sites and religious symbols should be the last to raise their voices when a mosque is vandalized.

Similarly, those who have denied other people’s religious and historic ties to holy sites and lands should also keep their mouths shut.

Why hasn’t any Palestinian party of leader ever condemned acts of vandalism against Jewish cemeteries? Where were they each time a Jewish worshipper was stabbed or killed while on his way to a yeshiva, the Wailing Wall or the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron? How come we didn’t hear the voices of Hamas and Fatah when Palestinians hurled stones at Jewish worshippers visiting Joshua’s Tomb in a village in the northern West Bank?

And where were Hamas and Fatah when Palestinian demonstrators repeatedly hurled firebombs and stones at Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem [a site which even Muslims consider to be holy, referring to it as the Bila bin Rabah Mosque]?

Unfortunately, assaults on Jewish holy sites have often been hailed by many Palestinians as acts of heroism against “legitimate targets.”

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Related: What if a Synagogue Were Burned and Other Silly Questions
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