Hebron: Prostrate on the graves of ancestors
It’s a cold day, with snowflakes in the air. For the moment, at least from what we see, the “deal of the century” and its opposers have given in to the weather…
At the entrance to Hebron, near the army base on Harsina Hill stand numerous APCs, looking quite ready for action.
The army cameras caught us taking pictures and consequently we were held up by the soldiers near the entrance to the Old City of Hebron.
A soldier on a week’s guard duty got his instructions from the HQ operated jointly by the army and the Kiryat Arba settler-colonists’ council. We waited for the Kiryat Arba security official’s car. He came after ten mintues, saw us, recognized us, smiled and released us.
The essential problem here is the right to detain us, and the fact that soldiers receive their orders from civilians.
Ariella Slonim and I (Hagit Bak) are both descendants of families that were an inseparable part of the (historic) Jewish community of Hebron, in the 1929 riots (when resident Jews were massacred). We decided to hold a ‘roots’ journey to the Hassidic part of the cemetery.
We wished to make a statement by actually being there that other ways are possible.
It was a cold day – both for the heart and the weather. How much evil can one actually get used to…