By Ryan Jones
Jan 17, 2006
Hebron's Jewish community issued a scathing response to Monday's decision to declare Judaism's second holiest city a military zone closed to all non-resident Jews as the government of Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert works to curtail the expansion of Jewish life there.
A spokesman for the community noted in a statement released to the press that in Hebron, ?the first
Jewish city in [the Land of Israel], the roots of the Jewish people, site of...the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs,? Jewish life was restricted for centuries by the Muslims, but that the Jewish people never imagined their own government would behave in similar fashion.
For 700 years, ?from 1267, following the Mameluk victory over the Crusaders, until the Six Day War in 1967,? the spokesman wrote, the ?entrance to [the Cave of the Patriarchs ? burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob] was off-limits to Jews.?
?Now, the State of Israel, impersonating the Mameluks...is again closing? the important holy site to the millions of Jews who are not residents of Hebron.
The local Jewish community, the spokesman said, would not be surprised if what it sees as the Olmert government's pandering to international public opinion resulted in the city becoming permanently off-limits to Jews in the very near future.
The statement concluded that the ?best way to restore 'law and order' in Hebron is not by forbidding Jews to enter the city; rather it is to rescind expulsion notices and allow Jews to continue to live and expand in the City of the Forefathers.?