When you arrive at the Jewish enclave inside the town of Hebron, it is difficult to ignore the feeling of being suurrounded. Police checkpoints and army pillboxes line the steep winding road into the settlement, and the brief stop at Kyriat Arba before setting off for the final destination of Hebron, one realizes, is not just to let a few passengers off but to pick up the army escort that will lead the bus through what is now deemed hostile territory.
Hebron has become a flashpoint for tension between Jews and Palestinians for the same reason that much of the rest of Israel has: Muslims and Jews regard Hebron as a sacred religious city with many sites holding equal importance for both religions. In 1929, the Arab population rioted against Hebron's British administrators and attacked Beit Hadasah, a health clinic set up by the Jewish Hadasah organization, killing its inhabitants and workers. Although Hebron was off-limits to Jews for many years after that, a small group of families managed into the old building at Beit Hadasah in 1979, evading Israeli troops instructed to keep settlers out. Refusing to leave despite threats of expulsion from the Begin government in Israel, they set up a small presence that was politically and financially supported by religious groups from around the world. The community has since won concessions from the Israeli government, and more settlers have moved in. "To understand the Jewish community in Hebron you must go back 4000 years," according to David Wilder, spokesman for the settler community. "It is not the history of the last twenty or even one hundred years that is important but the legacy of our forefathers that brings us and keeps us here." Although many settlers feel a duty to live here for religious reasons, there is also a strong political undercurrent: the desire to avenge the killings that took place in 1929, and on innumberable occasions afterwards. To hear the soldiers charged with protecting the settlers tell it, the price of vengeance is high. Many disclosed feelings of resentment towards the settlers, despite their sense of duty to protect them. "I think they are all mad," said one 19 year-old conscript. "This is no place to bring up a family, whatever your religious convictions. Does this justify putting your children in mortal danger?" Other soldiers admired the resolve, religious conviction and fearlessness displayed by the families as they continued as best they could with a normal life in a very explosive environment. One thing was common between both views: the quiet wish that the settlers would pack up and leave, so that the army could pull out and no longer be a target in the middle of this conflict. For now the settlers are keeping a low profile. Though armed, they rely at present on lobbying the government and regional army chiefs for more protection and to consider more direct action such as retaking parts of the Palestinian Authority-controlled city. Should that happen, the simmering tension between Jews and Palestinians in Hebron could ignite again into warfare. Photographs by Jon Levy Go to Photo Essay Photo Essays Home TIME Europe Home |