Hebron: Considering All of the Facts
By Sherwin Pomerantz

The news over the past week has been full of stories about the move by Israelis into a three story building in the center of Hebron, the Israeli government’s waffling on exactly what to do about this and finally, late this week, the eventual evacuation of the building by Israel Defense Forces troops.

How this was all reported depended on which end of the political spectrum the reporter and his/her paper represented. The right, as expected, defended the right of Israeli citizens to live anywhere in Israel and lambasted the government for supposedly taking a position against this right. The left was quick to criticize the actions of the Israeli citizens who took over the building as nothing more than yet another provocation. As for the center, well, I am not sure that “middle Israel” as journalist Amotz Asa-El likes to call us, really exists anymore.

But sadly, none of the media reported all of the facts and all of the suppositions surrounding this incident. What do they appear to be?

First of all, my fellow citizens who moved into the building claimed that they had bought the property in a legal manner. When the dust settles that may, indeed, prove to be a true statement of fact. However, no Palestinian who values his life would dare sell a three floor apartment building in downtown Hebron to Jews. After all, according to the laws of the Palestinian Authority doing so is punishable by death. My guess is that whoever owned the building sold it to someone who acted as an intermediary for the Israeli buyers. There is no way to tell who the intermediary was but it could have been someone living abroad, an independent real estate broker or some other unidentified party. As a result, most likely, the sellers had no idea they were selling the property to Jews.

Next the Israelis who “bought” the property decide to move in. Now we are talking about a piece of property in what can only be described as one of the most controversial locations in Israel. Hebron, the city in which graves of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and most of their wives are located, but in which the overwhelming majority of residents are Arab, is always a tinderbox waiting for the next explosion. So the buyers decided to move in knowing full well that in order to remain there they will need the protection of the Israeli Defense Forces, day and night, 24/7. But they didn’t first clear their intentions the authorities who need to protect them, but rather moved right in claiming that they bought the property fair and square and have a right to live there.

One could read this and say these people are crazy. But they are not! They knew from the get-go that moving into that building would cause three things to happen almost immediately: (1) Force the government to order the Israel Defense Forces to move troops in to protect them; (2) Cause the Palestinian leadership to immediately claim this was yet another “provocation” and; (3) Act as a catalyst to cause yet another crisis within the Israeli government between those who sit firmly on the right and others who yet see the possibility of rapprochement with the Palestinian leadership. And all three of these things were intentionally caused by those who “bought” the building so as to give further strength to their claim that we have a right to live anywhere in greater Israel.

Finally, the expected governmental crisis did occur. Prime Minister Netanyahu, not wanting to upset his right-leaning coalition played for time, suggested this be left for resolution until after the Passover holiday and otherwise sought means not to expel the residents of the building. Defense Minister Barak, on the other hand, true to his Labor Party roots and his Tel Aviv social circle, demanded a rapid expulsion of the residents in order to neutralize the provocation.

So, in retrospect, it is not simply a matter of people innocently buying a building and deciding when to move in. Rather, it was another example of how what would appear to be a simple act, when it happens in this part of the world, gets to be much more complicated and full of symbolism as well.

Tonight, as we begin the Passover holiday, we will spend the entire evening dealing with symbols. There are symbols of our oppression in Egypt, symbols of our exodus from slavery, and symbols of our 3,500 year old faith and how it has withstood the pressures of time and anti-Semitism. Ostensibly, the purpose of these symbols and the story we relate at the seder about that period in our history is meant to teach the young people around the table about our sojourn in Egypt and how we rose from slavery to freedom. So perhaps more than any other people, we understand the value of symbols and how they can be used to teach the lessons of history.

But we need to learn from those very same symbols that we are not free if we take advantage of others. We need to learn that freedom carries with it responsibility not only to ourselves and our loved ones but to the great community of which we a part as well. Actions when they are in our best interests but cause anguish or inconvenience to others is not how free people should behave. Those who moved into that three story building in Hebron last week, however righteous they may have felt personally vis-à-vis their right to live where they want, were selfish in conducting an exercise that caused anguish to their countrymen, their government and their neighbors. It was not the action of free people.

George Bernard Shaw is quoted as having said: “We are made wise not by the recollection of our past but by the responsibility for our future.” Tonight we remember our past but need to learn its lessons well in order to ensure our future. Let’s hope we internalize that while we still remain free.