|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/you-cannot-occupy-your-own-history/
You Cannot Occupy Your Own History
(Times of Israel) Sabine Sterk - There is something profoundly strange about watching the world debate whether Jews belong in Hebron and Jerusalem. Centuries before Islam existed, Jerusalem and Hebron were embedded in Jewish history, religion, memory and national identity. Jewish attachment to Hebron did not suddenly appear in 1967. The Hebrew Bible identifies Hebron with Abraham and the purchase of the Cave of Machpelah as a family burial place. It later describes Hebron as the place where David ruled before establishing Jerusalem as his capital. Jewish communities existed in Hebron under Muslim and Ottoman rule. In the 19th and early 20th centuries there was an established Jewish community with synagogues, religious institutions and property. Then came 1929 - 19 years before Israel's independence. During the Hebron massacre that year, 67 Jews were murdered and the ancient Jewish community was shattered. Survivors were evacuated by the British. Yet their eventual return is frequently presented as though foreigners had suddenly discovered an unrelated Arab city. Jerusalem stands at the center of Jewish civilization. It was the location of the First and Second Temples. Over 2,000 years of dispersion, Jews continued to pray toward Jerusalem and incorporated the city into prayers, mourning rituals, festivals and the Passover declaration of hope for a return to Jerusalem. Zionism inherited Jerusalem from Jewish civilization. Muslims also possess genuine religious connections to Jerusalem, and Arabs have lived in Jerusalem and Hebron for generations. Recognizing those facts costs me nothing. But acknowledging an Arab or Islamic connection does not require denying the Jewish one. It does not magically delete what came before. Why must recognition of Arab history so often be accompanied by demands that Jewish sovereignty or even Jewish residence be treated as illegitimate? Why can a city be sacred to several peoples until Jewish political rights enter the discussion? No modern "Palestinian" national claim can legitimately require the historical deletion of the Jewish people. That is history with the first chapters deliberately removed. You have to apply the same historical standards to Jews that you would apply to everyone else. Too much of the international conversation begins by demanding that Jews prove they belong there at all. The writer is CEO of Netherlands-based NGO Time to Stand Up for Israel.