Hebron awaits visitor surge
Local authorities welcome gov't initiative to send Israeli diplomats, school kids to visit Cave of Patriarchs, say public should shed prejudice. 'Thriving Jewish community lived here, until the Arabs murdered, expelled us,' right-wing activist says
Malachi Levinger, who heads the Kiryat Arba-Hebron Local Council told Ynet he hopes that the Israeli public "will put politics aside and come reconnect with the roots and the historic principles that belong to all of us."
Levinger was the one to ignite the media storm on the matter when he asked Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar to institutionalize school trips to Hebron.
Noam Arnon, a spokesperson for the Jewish settlers of Hebron, has also called on the citizens of Israel to shed the fears and prejudices it has about Hebron, and come see the city for themselves.
"You cannot express a real opinion if you haven't seen the place with your own eyes," he said. "I think that the ignorance is the source of the difference between us and certain parts of the Israeli public.
"The lack of understanding is comprised of the security image that formed as a result of the tough security periods that we have experienced over the years, as well as the people's view of the place from a political standpoint instead of a historic one, and the constant negative media coverage that aims to delegitimize the Jewish settlement," he explained.
Arnon recommends travelers to visit the Hebron Museum, which displays the history of Jewish settlement through art and photography.
"The museum is an example of the entire Israeli story - an ancient community that experienced expulsion and destruction, but eventually managed to recover and rebuild," he said.
Arnon at Hebron Museum. (Photo: Gur Dotan)
'Small step for education system'
Right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir welcomed Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon's announcement that all Israeli ambassadors and diplomats-in-training will be required to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Education Ministry's class trip program, but identified these measures as too little, too late.
"I expect school principals and the heads of the education establishment to show us the same openness that they show towards Arabs," Ben-Gvir said. "It's not a secret that dozens, if not hundreds of schools host bi-national gatherings that are held by various leftists personalities.
"(The school trips) are some kind of an attempt at achieving a balance, but from our standpoint it is only a small step towards a more balanced and free education system," he added.
Ben-Gvir said he would take Israeli students to see various structures that were either demolished or evacuated by the security forces recently, as well as the Hebron Casbah and the tomb of Otniel Ben-Knaz, which "unfortunately is under the rule of the Palestinian Authority, but we can still get there."
"We have here the history of Jewish people both near and far," he said. "Before the events of 1929, a thriving Jewish community lived here, until the Arabs murdered and expelled us from there."
Cave of Patriarchs. (Photo: Atta Awisat)
Kids visiting killer's grave?
Sa'ar and Eylon probably will not be pleased with the detour proposed by Bentzi Gupstein, a member of the Kiryat Arba-Hebron Local Council and one of the leaders of the anti-assimilation group Lehava. Gupstein told Ynet that class trips to the city should begin with a visit to the grave of Baruch Goldstein, who shot and killed 29 Arabs at the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994.
"The grave of Baruch Goldstein is an inseparable part of the Jewish settlement in Hebron, and our war for this region," Gupstein explained. "Just like there are monuments for soldiers around the country, so should we come here to study about the life and death of Baruch Goldstein, who was a dedicated doctor and saved thousands of Jews."
Gupstein claims Goldstein was a saint, and that "all his actions sanctify god's name."
Council head Levinger is not enthusiastic about this proposal. "I support seeing the lively town, not graves," he said.
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