As Jews around the world lock up their leavened bread and Jews in the Israeli army lock down the West Bank, I take far too long to pack a small bag for my annual trip to Cleveland to celebrate Passover. Come Tuesday night I’ll be surrounded by dozens of people who share my blood and my heritage, people I’ve been waiting all year to see. But instead of packing to the memory of their voices rising above the our seder table in "Oyf’n Pripetshok," a family favorite from the "old country" of Bialystok, the deadened refrain that repeats in my head chants "Next year in Jerusalem." In the wake of Israel’s recent announcement of further settlement expansions in East Jerusalem, ever-increasing violence against Palestinians, and the still-echoing war cries of Netanyahu and so many others at this month’s AIPAC conference, "Next year in Jerusalem" sounds more and more like a threat.
Here in New Orleans, some friends are preparing for a vegan liberation seder, where each participant is asked to bring a reading to contribute to the evening’s envisioning of liberation. I spent a sunny Sunday afternoon strolling with an anti-Zionist friend who’s struggling to select an appropriate reading for the seder, which sometimes includes "Israeli Salad" (known to most as Palestinian tabbouleh) and rememberings of delicious meals shared on "Birthright" trips to Israel. My friend would prefer to share a reading that fits into her anti-Zionist analysis, but is concerned about potentially challenging the "safe space" this seder is designed to create. We talk about the privilege of safe spaces, and whose safety is protected in them, as we dodge parading Mardi Gras Indians, groups of Black New Orleanians who dress in elaborate beaded and feathered costumes to commemorate the Native Americans who offered their ancestors safe spaces as they fled slavery. The Mardi Gras Indians, like so many in New Orleans’ Black population, have their own stories to tell about displacement, and the state-sanctioned public housing demolitions and police violence that bring a piece of Palestine to New Orleans.
When I arrive at my family’s seder, there will be no talk of safe spaces. We claim to set our political differences aside as we sit down to remember the story of Passover, but in a family where many members are strong AIPAC supporters and some travel to Israel on an annual basis, "setting our political differences aside" means embracing an increasingly ethnocentric status quo. There is no discussion when an elder within the family feels compelled to make a statement in support of the state of Israel, or to lead us all in Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. We all know the words from our many years of Hebrew school, but a few of us bite our lips instead of singing along. And as the evening wears on, we silent dissenters curl into corners to share news about the latest violence committed against Palestinians in our name, and what we’re doing to confront that violence. But these conversations never happen around the seder table, a place reserved only for remembering our exodus from Egypt and, thousands of years later, from Bialystok. On Passover, the theme of displacement never expands to include Palestinians.
As I prepare for my Cleveland homecoming, scores of Palestinians from New Orleans’ own West Bank of the Mississippi river plan their annual summer homecoming to the other West Bank, where they’ll join their families in Silwan and a handful of other villages near Jerusalem and Ramallah. Their family reunions are always marked by the latest evictions and settlement expansions, and by the maze created by Israel’s apartheid wall. I wonder about the spaces where these Palestinians feel safe. If my non- and anti-Zionist cousins and I carried our conversation to the seder table, the discomfort of our relatives wouldn’t begin to approach the torture that Palestinians face at Ben Gurion International Airport, and at the checkpoints that mar the landscape of their ever-shrinking homeland. Yet we dissenting few will swallow our truths along with our second or third glass of wine on Tuesday for fear of offending our elders, even though it is they who imbued us with a morality that turns our Manischewitz to mud as we anticipate those final words that will send us all back out into the diaspora: "Next year in Jerusalem."
I’m beginning to believe that, in addition to failing in our obligation to support Palestinians in their struggle for self-determination, we do our Jewish communities a disservice when we allow Zionism to consume our family traditions. On March 16th, the seventh anniversary of the murder by bulldozer of Palestine solidarity activist Rachel Corrie, I attended an event called "Doing Business in Israel and the Middle East," hosted by the Louisiana Department of Commerce and New Orleans’ World Trade Center. During the question-and-answer period that followed the presentation, I asked if the presenters (from the Israeli company Atid EDI Ltd.) were warning small businesses of the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign against Israel, and the potential ramifications the campaign could have on their businesses. Following the Q and A a livid representative of the World Trade Center approached me, hell-bent on drawing me into an argument. When the word "settlement" slipped from my lips he flew into a rage, shouting "Jerusalem is not a settlement! Jerusalem is the eternal undivided capital of the Jewish people!" A roomful of New Orleans-area business owners turned to stare in shock at his outburst. Of course, his exclamation is at the core of "Next year in Jerusalem," and lately variations of his outburst have appeared in The Washington Post and on National Public Radio, among other places, as Jewish journalists and businessmen forget their occupation and revert to a visceral response to the US’ growing condemnation of the aggressive state-sanctioned settler movement in Jerusalem. As the WTC rep stood in front of me, red in the face and shaking, I was overwhelmed with a deep sadness for him and for the many others I’ve heard utter this phrase in the past few weeks alone. I wish his engagement with non- and anti-Zionist Jews didn’t begin with a confrontation at a corporate event, but instead could start with a conversation about liberation, for all people, around a seder table in a safe space.
For most of my life, I haven’t even thought about Jewish spaces that might feel safe to me. I just assumed that something inside of me was not Jewish, or was far less Jewish than my peers in Hebrew school and confirmation class. I never had Jewish friends, and saw my engagement with Judaism as purely familial: I could find no spiritual home in synagogues where rabbis railed against the terrorist Palestinian population threatening "our homeland." But in recent years, as I’ve become more vocal about my differences with Zionism, I’ve come across a large and growing number of Jews in my local and global community who are struggling with the same questions I am. These Jews can’t reconcile our history of oppression and resistance with the oppression of Palestinians that many in their families and communities support, and they’re actively seeking opportunities to tease out these questions together, as a community of Jews. We’re anxious to reclaim a dynamic history and heritage that’s been hijacked by the Zionist movement, and with each Israeli incursion our numbers grow. This June, Jews from across the country will convene in Detroit for the first-ever US Assembly of Jews: Confronting Racism & Israeli Apartheid. The Assembly will offer thousands of Jews the opportunity to learn about each others’ work, and to think together about how we can be effective allies in the Palestinian struggle for liberation and self-determination. While the Assembly’s focus is very much on supporting the broader Palestine solidarity movement, part of the still-developing program is dedicated to sharing strategies for broaching these difficult subjects with our families and our Zionist Jewish communities. As I prepare my body for a week without leavened bread and an evening without discussion of the kind of liberation I envision, I look to the Assembly as the nourishment at the end of a long fast.
Like many non- and anti-Zionist Jews struggling to pack their bags for this year’s Passover trip, I’m not really sure how to prepare for Tuesday’s seder, which coincides with Land Day, an annual commemoration of the death of six Palestinians and the injury and arrest of hundreds of others who stood up to Israeli appropriation of their land in 1976. But I intend to take on the task of beginning this broader family dialogue now, and not next year, as I always promise myself. I intend to lovingly challenge my elders to apply the morality they’ve taught me to all people, including Palestinians. And, buoyed by the support of so many Jews facing the same hard conversations I am this week, I’m starting to think that saying No to "Next year in Jerusalem" might not be as hard as I think.
Emily Ratner is an organizer and mediamaker based in New Orleans. She is a member of New Orleans Palestine Solidarity (NOLAPS) and the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network (IJAN). In June she traveled to Gaza with a New Orleans delegation, and in December she joined the Gaza Freedom March. She can be reached at: emily@nolahumanrights.org or at her website, http://publikemily.blogspot.com.
That sounds like a great forum!
I’d like to point out to the “undivided Jerusalem” crowd that Israel already has divided “Jerusalem.” That is, when they began to build the segregation wall, they noticed that part of the 70 sq k of the West Bank that they stole and renamed “Jerusalem” contained too many Arabs. So they walled off those areas of “eternal undivided Jerusalem,” in effect dividing the region and condemning the residents to eternal limbo.
Some say it better to be in limbo with what you have, than suddenly finding yourself on the “Israeli side.” Because if your area is walled off than you have nothing, you will not be issued an Arab Israeli identification – you’re screwed. This has been done numerous times.
Ms. Emily Ratner, if you choose to resist the ‘zionists’ your opinion is very much respected. History showed there were many kinds of Jews: a) The Jews that are in the mainstream of Jewish faith and tradition; b) Jews that were not people of ‘Judah’ but part of the Jewish representation in general because they belong to the original tribes of Israel, and c) the Jewish who like Samaritans become people of the land that resisted together with the ‘Arabs’ the rebuilding of the Jewish state and reunification of Jerusalem like during the times of Ezra… during the beginning diaspora there were Jews who were ‘bums’ who were ‘social outcast’ who were made ‘super rich’ by the bonanza of being left with vast lands by courtesy of the Iraqis while the original owners were made slaves and bums in foreign lands (Babylon)…If you decided to resist the rebuilding of Israel and Jerusalem and think like these ancient Samaritans, then its your choice after all…after all it is between you and your God (if you believe in Him) in the finality…
What on earth are you talking about? I read that twice, which is one time too many, trying to figure out what you are saying.
But the least you can do is give us examples of the three different types Jews, and some way to delineate them.
If you are trying to say that you judge a person’s Jewishness by their devotion to Zionism, just say so.
I thought the ‘exodus’ that Passover celebrates is an old myth debunked by Shlomo Sands (without effective academic challengers).
Seems positively insane to celebrate something that never existed.
I believe that regardless of whether or not the exodus happened is really irrelevant.
A lot of Jewish culture is built around these events, and whether or not these events were true, or are mythology (or both) doesn’t take away from the importance that they have to those people who identify as Jews.
In any case most nation states, and nationalistic histories tend to be completely based on half truths, and sometimes on pure mythology.
Nonetheless, this was an excellent article Emily, thank you for sharing.
James,
Not okay in my book to celebrate a myth that has caused death and profound suffering for millions of people.
I despair sometimes at humans who live by superstitions and mythologies. What the fuck?! The world is up serious shit-creek and realism is what’s needed.
Abraham rebelled against his pagan society only for his new cult to carry on the same practices but with different names.
All that shit belongs to the flat-earth society.
This is the 21st century and for us as a species to survive, we need to collectively be able to rationalize without prejudice and the influence of father Christmas and other stupid fallacies.
Taxi,
I believe that all depends on how you view things.
Many people view the Exodus as an event in which the Jews were able to escape slavery in Egypt. Many people then take that event and extrapolate what they want from it.
Likewise, the story of Abraham garners similar extrapolations from various peoples. Events happen (or don’t happen, or get exaggerated etc) and people make what they want from them to suit whatever agenda or philosophical idiom they want.
Many Jews, as we have seen comment and post on this blog have made it clear that they view the history of their respective tribe as one that motivates them to fight for the rights of all people including the Palestinians.
In any case, I don’t really think we can deduce that Jewish history or mythology is a primary factor that foments Palestinian suffering. Israel is a settler colonial apartheid regime, and like every other colonial regime, Israel reacts to its indigenous population in much the same way that all other colonial regimes that preceded it.
And while it may be true, that Israels “Jewishness” plays a role in the way the state operates (and its treatment of the Palestinians), that role is a far second or third to the simple fact that Israel is a colonial settler apartheid state based on a secular nationalistic ideology known as Zionism (an ideology that attempts to take the religious identity of the Jews and turns it into a largely secular nationalistic one).
*I just want to first say that I respect you as a commentator on this blog, if this thread continues I don’t want it turn into a flame fest =P*
James,
No ‘flame fest’ from me pal. I too am an admirer of your sound blogs and I very much respect your take on the I/P conflict. I have never read anything offensive written by you, au contraire, I always learned something good from you.
I have a BA in Poetry and an MA in Film and so I am very in-tune with the power of mythology. But like I said, it’s not okay in my mind that myths are used as weapons to destroy another people’s culture and the lives of their citizens.
Despite my occasional fiery words, I am actually a tolerant humanist, albeit a somewhat faulty one – but I’m working on it :-)
“Not okay in my book to celebrate a myth that has caused death and profound suffering for millions of people.
I despair sometimes at humans who live by superstitions and mythologies. What the fuck?! The world is up serious shit-creek and realism is what’s needed.
Abraham rebelled against his pagan society only for his new cult to carry on the same practices but with different names.
All that shit belongs to the flat-earth society.
Jews didn’t do a lot of massacring until they invented Zionism and Israelis, who still haven’t done a lot of massacring when compared on a worldwide scale (Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Rwanda, etc) but us loving Christians have done a lot more than anybody (WW1, WW2, Bengal Famine 1942, etc, etc) to express our love of massacres. Hitler expressly used Christianity to invoke WW2.
Abraham didn’t ‘rebel against a pagan society’ ; he merely left it to become a more prosperous sheep-herder. Ur, the city he left, already had as organised a religion as the Roman Catholic Church, but had many gods (and goddesses; the Catholic Church has Holy Mary as well); the Christian Church still has three to four ‘Gods’ (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; plus Holy Mary).
Abraham is not only the father of Judaism (hence Christianity) but also of Islam, which is very strict about having only one God. It is a purer religion than either Judaism or Christianity.
Personally speaking, I really don’t care what that desert guy Abraham hallucinated/channeled, Richard.
But I can see how the Islamic branch of his ‘god experience’ looks to be the least corrupt. When you talk about ‘pure’ religion though, you are no longer in the realm of organized religion, but in the realm of esoteric mysteries. That shit’s heavier and more brain-warp-mind-fuck than even the I/P conflict!
p.s. I can google you several different interpretations of why Abraham left his father’s workshop in Ur and took to the desert. The variety available tells us clearly we’ll never know for sure why Abraham did what he did. I actually studied Babylonian poetry, the epics, or what remains of them, so I’m familiar with Babylonian culture, religions, civic and social activities. Indeed, one always gains a unique ‘political’ insight into any culture through reading it’s poetry.
“And while it may be true, that Israels “Jewishness” plays a role in the way the state operates (and its treatment of the Palestinians), that role is a far second or third to the simple fact that Israel is a colonial settler apartheid state based on a secular nationalistic ideology known as Zionism (an ideology that attempts to take the religious identity of the Jews and turns it into a largely secular nationalistic one”
Yes! And even worse, it uses the troubles of the Jews as its springboard or catalyst to supply the raw material of the colonial project. That is unforgivable, in my book.
Excellent article. My early and instinctive disgust with Zionism makes me more flippant than I should be about Zionism’s hold on Jews.
It seemed such obvious nonsense to me; whatever the problems of “the Jews”, it was patently obvious that Zionism was not the way to solve them. And so obvious the Jews (whatever that means) never said “yes” to Zionism , only that there was no mechanism by which they could say “no”.
RE: “And so obvious the Jews (whatever that means) never said “yes” to Zionism , only that there was no mechanism by which they could say “no.”
Lots of wisdom and knowledge going on here.
Oh give me a break. I do my best.
If I remember right, it took quite a while before you gave up expounding the notion that there was some sort of efficient political cohesiveness to all the Jews.
It’s Israel Finkelstein who really debunked this myth.
Thanks for the clarification. Which Finklestein book/essay first debunked the exodus?
I think it was The Bible Unearthed
Taxi, a good review by Larry Saltzman here:
link to thetruthseeker.co.uk
“A revolution is happening in Biblical Archaeology. Biblical Archaeology is critically examining the Bible against the archaeological record and is turning everything we thought we knew upside down. It may disturb many that hold strong political or highly conservative religious beliefs. This will be true of Christians, Muslims and Jews who interpret the Bible literally.
It will disturb many secular Zionists who justify modern Israel’s existence and the proposed annexation of “Judah and Samaria” based on the Biblical Texts. You can choose to believe this research or not. But it has profound implications for the Israeli Palestinian conflict. This article will review the theories of one of the foremost of these revolutionary Biblical archaeologists � Israel Finkelstein.”
Thanks for the link thankgodiamaethiest.
When realism/sobriety eventually prevails, the monotheistic religions will fall by the wayside just like the Aztecs and ancient Egyptian religions did. Hopefully at that point, we can all start really looking for answers to questions like: what the fuck are we doing here? An honest question that not a single religion has ever explained with a drop of intellectual integrity.
Archeology, with it’s fact-based conclusions, is part of this sobering path that we will indeed have to follow in order to eventually reach… well, the truth.
One thing you begin to see after a period of time studying these things, all religions have shelf lives.
“what the fuck are we doing here”
That one’s easy! We are here to learn instruments, or sing, and develop improvisation skills, and form groups in your choice of genre. Everybody knows that! Why do you think we can unclench our fists?
If only the bible was written in musical notes!
while we are debunked religious myths, lets talk about the resurrection of Christ, or the illiterate ‘Prophet’ writing the Koran.
Sounds like a pretty asshole thing to say when we are talking about your own religion huh Taxi?
or the illiterate ‘Prophet’ writing the Koran.
yonira
———————
He didn’t “write” it it, yoni dear! He dictated it. Not that I’m a believer mind you, but it makes a hell lot of difference, doesn’t it?
he physically penned it, this is what i meant by ‘write.’
‘Prophet’
————-
Why the quotation marks yoni? ! Muslims believe in ALL your goddamn prophets and venerate them . Or are you the only people who can manufacture those things?
Yonira’s little more than a neoconservative Jewish supremacist. You should hear it when he and Julian get on a roll together. It’s pretty degrading.
You’re one of my least preferred posters here, Yonira, and that NOT because you’re a pathetic Zionist. It’s because you’re a one-liner. Kind of ‘hit and run’ fellow..Not very graceful..
What i am saying atheist is its bullshit to question anyone ones religion and claim that its a myth.
You are helping to prove my point that there is a huge double standard, where Sand’s book is like the gospel on here, but if anyone says anything 1/2 as bad about another religion they are castigated. This blog is anti-Jewish and you are helping to prove my point.
No it’s not, and you don’t even give a shit about religion in general.
This blog isn’t anti-Jewish at all. You’re just out to smear any kind of criticism with the same tired antisemitism-card.
That’s what every single one of your posts boils down to.
Yes Chaos, I’ve noticed the other fellow too.. Every good blog need a s..t stirrer , why not two?
Oh, we have more than that. Witty’s just getting started on the other thread, kneeling down to worship Tom Friedman and calling the rest of us ignorant children.
yonira is pathetic. He’s not even good at regurgitating the usual Zionist talking points.
The guy has never once debated anyone here. He just throws a shit-fit and vanishes.
“Anti Jewish”
—————
What exactly do you mean here?..The religion or the ethnic group? While I’m not very sympathetic to any religion, obviously, I have no problem with the later until they espouse the political nationalistic doctrine called Zionism..It killed and is still killing wholesale my people..
Let’s say that all religions are full of bullshit, instead.
So Cliff, lets get this straight, I am a holocaust denying, nazi who is white trash and doesn’t believe in religion. what is there to debate?
why don’t you go play your X-box.
hope med school is treating you well.
I thought I was anti-Jewish, in the sense that I think Judaism and Jewishness should be abandoned.
Of course, I think the same about Christianity and Islam.
I’ve only called you one of those names. You’re not literally ‘white trash’ either. I just said it to emphasize that people should be defined by their actions and not the morally bankrupt economy of ‘identity politics’.
I don’t play Xbox.
“Kind of ‘hit and run’ fellow..”
Yup, “Wham, Bam, and thank you, Ma’am!”, that’s Yonira.
yonira,
you’re cute when you’re illogical, in an asshole kinda way.
I’ve never come across a single piece of evidence to verify that jesus actually existed let alone resurrected. That’s not to say that I don’t like some parts of that literary drama we call the bible.
And just to enlighten you here my friend, so you don’t look like an intellectual scab in the future, Mohammad never wrote the koran, people were following him and writing down shit he said. To give credence where credence is due though, there is plenty of proof Mohammad actually lived and there is only ONE version of the koran, unlike the many versions of the bible at our disposal.
Fact is I have no attachment to any religion to speak of whatsoever so everything you throw at me is ticklish ‘ sticks and stones’.
I know your intent was to offend me – but alas instead you actually amused me. Thanks darling.
I could give a shit about you Taxi, but I found your comment offensive.
People who are thin-skinned are always prissy-offended by truths and facts here on mondoweiss.
Believe it or not, I actually give two shits about you yonira:
First shit: I feel sorry for your mum.
Second shit: I feel sorry for your girlfriend.
But seriously, I want you to have a nice life with a clear conscience. All i’m doing is contributing to my higher aspirations for you and your bright future.
You’ll get there, with my help and the help of others here.
Please always visit us here on mondoweiss, I for one enjoy educating you, even though you’re an average student with no clear or remarkable gifts.
Yet.
[start the music ...]
oh yonira, she/he so smear-a
never met a pure thought – she couldn’t stop
and take a sh*t on
always a contraaaaarian
a mind so agraaaaarian
-plenty of empty space
-afraid of losing pace
yonira yonira
why you so smear-a?
has your smugness made you bitter?
your prose is so much litter
A Shas site would be fitter
… for your rants, and “can’ts”
really you should pull out your pants
from that ball they’ve scrunched up in
– deep inside your rectum
yonira yonira
why you so a smear-a?
to the thoughtful people here-a?
I/P is a changin’
yonira is a flailin’
can’t deal with the loss of power
still wants bullets flyin’ from the towers
oh yonira, you need a moral shower
why don’t you take your toys and go?
“big smile”
Message too short, it says. Ok, here it is again.
“big smile”
And I thought I was the song parodist around here! Anyway it’s nice to know the antics of the Ziocaine inspire others beside myself to panegyrics.
And such nachis I get when I see Yonira stuffing himself with Judaism, buffet-style , picking and choosing the little treats which appeal to him and rejecting the rest. Eat, my child. Yes, Yonira, yes, it tastes terrible, and the portions are too small!
Dear, let’s get married, after all, I’ve been schtupping you for a while now. We’ll start by stipulating that your religion is bullshit, and you were a fool for ever believing it, and I, the big smart interllekshul Jew, (you know, like Eienstein) will now set you straight, after which you will produce “my Jewish Children”.
Now there’s a firm foundation on which to ankle down the aisle and plant your little cottage in the bee-loud glade, baby! Mazel Tov!
Who the heck believes in the resurrection of Christ or any God-instilled Koran on this blog, yonira? You don’t get it. What other country is using God as the reason why
they do what they do, and as justification for its existence? Nobody here, as far as I’ve discerned, is a Christian Zionist, or a Zionist–except a few religious zealots like you.
“except a few religious zealots like you.”
Yonira? Seems to me Yonira is quite flexible, quite liberal about his religion. He’s a connoisseur! He picks and chooses! He flits! Rabid vicarious nationalism? Yumm, he’ll take a couple of helpings. Religion as an excuse for bigotry? Deal him in!
Moral strictures? Naaahh! Icky! Sacrifice? No, it gives him gas.
LA Times has a decent (by MSM standards) article on a Palestinian home in Sheik Jarrah the front half of which is being occupied by Jews based on a court order. Someone had posted a video of a Zionist tour there a while back.
It’s heartening to see most of the comments are sympathetic to the Palestinian plight.
I intend to lovingly challenge my elders to apply the morality they’ve taught me to all people, including Palestinians.
Good luck. You will need it. It is one thing to oppose Zionism, but entirely another to challenge the tenet of the Chosen People.
“the tenet of the Chosen People”
No wonder Zionism won’t work, we’re originally from Korea!
AW come on, it’s simple, Mooser, either the refraind “Never Again!” applies to all people, or it is a blank check to repeat history with new bads guys and good guys.
And from what I read about Chosun, “never again” is a good policy. “This kind of war” was hell.
ahmed,
Comments on the same article by the poster under the name of ‘longcastle’ is me :-)
Great! I encourage others to comment too, and send a note to the reader’s rep that you appreciate getting a glimpse of the palestinian situation.
Oooh ‘reader’s rep’ – i’m on it!
Ahmed, I was a child traveling around the Mediterranean with my very cool parents in 1967. We were actually in East Jerusalem on June 5th when all hell broke in the holy lands (6 Day War). My parents chose to stay and help several Palestinian families instead of being evacuated to Cyprus as was advised by our Embassy in Tel Aviv. All my life I’ve loved Palestine and Palestinians. Everyday I think about them and I dedicate at least several hours of my time to blogging on their behalf. I’ve been blogging since 12th September 2001 and in those days hardly anyone agreed with me. I feel that my efforts and the efforts of other bloggers on the subject on numerous sites have plausibly helped educate many many readers.
Nowadays, there are so many better informed citizens it’s like I’m almost out of job!
Thanks for sharing that, Taxi. I’ve been interested in the situation through my father, who spent his formative years in Egypt, as a foreign student, and also fell in love with the Palestinians and ended up writing a history of Palestine. Too bad it’s in Arabic, and I can’t read it! He continues to write and advocate on their behalf. Because of my job, I am technically not allowed to. All I can do is leave anonymous comments (which also are verboten, so i keep them to a minimum)
It’s fantastic you got such a cool dad. I’d love to know the title of his book, if this doesn’t compromise you in any way. I can read and write Arabic having studied it at home when I was a teenager – on weekends for 5 years with a private Lebanese teacher (hot hot hot woman!!!) – yes I studied Arabic while all my teen friends were sneaking into discos. I am fluent at other Latin based languages too – thanks to my grandfather who was a professor of Latin at Oxford University and felt it his duty to teach me Latin when I was a kid bouncing mindlessly off the walls and breaking stuff around the house for kicks).
I know you probably can’t answer, ahmed, and so I don’t dare press the question… but I’m still compelled to remark that I’m left wondering what your job happens to be.
Taxi,
This is all very interesting to read about you and your parents.
I think we could both write quite a bit on post September 11, 2001 in New York.
Witnessing it live in New York that terrible day, boy, did I get an ear-full!
Boy those 2001 days were lonely and scary! I actually know people in California (where else?!) who started digging tunnels in their back yards to hide from Osama – so you can just imagine what the blog-spheres were like. The worst part of it was people’s written English at the time was sooo poor and combine that with a lot of highly charged ignorance – it was frustrating and very trying but I hung in there too, just like you did with your Bostonian and Columbia bunch. I slayed so many zio-dragons till ’06. The Lebanon war turned a lot of people around. Gaza opened the door of doubt in people’s minds. It’s been a lot easier to blog since Gaza.
“I intend to lovingly challenge my elders to apply the morality they’ve taught me to all people, including Palestinians. And, buoyed by the support of so many Jews facing the same hard conversations I am this week, I’m starting to think that saying No to “Next year in Jerusalem” might not be as hard as I think.”
Good for you. Someone suggested that folks could bring up Judge Goldstone and how he represents a true example of the application of the law and treaties while he continues to love Israel and the hopes and dreams that can blossom within the 67 borders.
Judge Goldstone an incredible example of honor and integrity and commitment to law for all of us to respect and promote
“And as the evening wears on, we silent dissenters curl into corners to share news about the latest violence committed against Palestinians in our name, and what we’re doing to confront that violence. But these conversations never happen around the seder table, a place reserved only for remembering our exodus from Egypt and, thousands of years later, from Bialystok. On Passover, the theme of displacement never expands to include Palestinians.”
Many blind hypocrites in many of our families. Just that this hypocrisy has been at the center of the reasons for violence in the middle east for six decades now.
Have a wonderful time with your family
Kathleen,
I have an image (generally wrong, perhaps, but nice to contemplate) that a family group might have (as a synagogue might have) a majority of people who are pro-human-rights-for-Palestinians and (to that extent) critical of Israel (or anti-Israel) BUT who remain quiet because they imagine EITHER that they are in a minority OR that they would so injure others [e.g., their elders] by speaking up that they hold back their opinions. Just like all the non-Jews who “hold back” out of real and kindly concern for the (supposed) feelings of their Jewish friends.
Maybe this is the “stuff” of blind hypocrisy, but it all seems more complicated. On the other hand, the issue is so important–in my view–that I think Jews and others should speak up EVEN IF they are in a minority and EVEN IF speaking up my hurt feelings. Indeed, EVEN IF it may “break rice bowls” as Phil has mentioned: many careers in media, finance, education, etc., could be terminated by Zionist enforcers if people “speak out”. Is THEIR silence “hypocracy”?
In my family, silence was a kindness to me and my wife. In late June, 1967, I married a Palestinian-American. Many years later my father told me that he had never cared much about Israel until the 1967 war, at which point he gained a sort of pride in the successful warriors. However, he kept this pride to himself during my wife’s lifetime and only mentioned it to me later. On the other hand, I had an uncle who said to me and my wife, when we were carrying on about Palestine, dismissively, “As so-and-so said, If there is no solution, then there is no problem.” This seemed a cruelty [1] to say it and [2] because of course there is a solution. But silence and speech within families can hurt/help.
Silence is complicity!
Emily,
A recommendation. Don’t go the anti-route. Go the mutual pro-route.
“Next year in Jerusalem” is not a curse, its a blessing. Jerusalem is both literal and figurative, the “safe place”, womb.
Both literally and figuratively, your invitation can be universal, so you can state it confidently for yourself your family and neighbors, and also state it confidently for those that you observe are currently excluded.
Wow, Witty tells yet another Jewish woman her place. Anyone else sense the same pattern that I do?
Also, where exactly do you go when we have all the articles on atrocities that Israelis are committing against Palestinian civilians? Your “happy place?”
With this bit of advice you’ve managed to blend the sensibilities of 60′s mysticism, Jungian archetypes, and a toothpaste testimonial. Brilliantly done. Now back to your womb.
Yeah, and as Chaos said, the patronizing part that comes so naturally.
“With this bit of advice you’ve managed to blend the sensibilities of 60’s mysticism, Jungian archetypes, and a toothpaste testimonial. Brilliantly done.”
That was not just a deconstruction, that was a demolition! Rang the bell, pegged the meter, and entitles the lucky winner to cigar or coco-nut, your choice!
Good work!
I’ll take the coconut. Have your lawyer contact my lawyer, and we’ll have the proper documents drawn up.
Whatever you want Richard. Whatever you yearn or long for, literally, figuratively, or spiritually but please, please, I beg you on my knees. Stop PHYSICALLY crushing my people!
Don’t beg for your rights dude. Demand demand demand it!
Your advice has nothing to do with crawling into the womb RW, it is about sticking your head up another part of your anatomy. That is all I have to say.
Flynt and Hillary Leverett on Charlie Rose tonight. Discussing Iran. Now this would stir it up at a Passover event.
link to raceforiran.com
Will Obama say Next year In Jerusalem at his Seder??
Seriously, has somebody merely managed to link those annoying text message spam phishers to the blog comment section? Because that’s what your comments are starting to sound like.
“TXT reply 1=YES 2=NO”
I would TXT 1 probably he won’t change that part of the seder. That being said there probably also won’t be press at that part so we won’t know.
So basically what you’re saying is… this conversation is so speculative as to be completely irrelevant.
Cool. I can move on with my life then, thanks.
Answer your own stupid question.
Pray tell us all what do YOU think? Got a fucking crystal ball?
I’m not sure why you are both so aggressive and mean.
Since you asked me to answer the question, it’s hard to say, maybe everyone else will say it and he will keep quiet?
It would be difficult to try to change it because many Jews would see that as offensive.
Another option would be to say “Next Year in Jerusalem” and explain that this means a divided Jerusalem between a new state of Palestine and Israel. This is certainly a possibility. One example of this would be the campaign promises that Jerusalem would never be divided, that were amended to mean “Not divided with barbed wires and things like that”
Not all Jews are Zionists. Get that through your head, please, thank you very much.
“Not all Jews are Zionists.”
Thank goodness the vast majority are Zionists. More important virtually all Jews in Israel are Zionists and I really doubt Jerusalem will ever be divided again.
Face the facts Julian,
The original jews of the world are Arab jews – lest we forget that Abraham was born in Ur, which today is in Iraq. Every jewish person who is not Arab, is a convert.
Oh and by the way, the name ‘Julian’ is Roman.
That you should claim any heritage to the holy lands is a cruel joke.
But everything changes round Julian – next year very possibly an airlift back to Odessa, Russia, or was that Brooklyn you once said you’re from?
Virtually all Jews in Israel are immigrants, or the children of such. Kind of unsurprising that the colonists don’t advocate against colonialism and the crimes it entails.
“Kind of unsurprising that the colonists don’t advocate against colonialism and the crimes it entails.”
And not very surprising that the colonists would beat their religion into a shield to excuse and distract from the crimes of their colonialism.
“I’m not sure why you are both so aggressive and mean.”
Find comfort in the above victim’s shawl?
You sure Israel will be around next year?
(nothing irritates me more than a passive-aggressive zionist)
By the sound of it, seems like he’s already “in (Zionist) Jerusalem” this year, in spirit of not in body.
In my family, we say each year, “Next year in Gaza” as we wonder, “will my father-in-law ever lay eyes on his only grandson?” “Will my husband ever see his parents or siblings again?”
How I would love a movement in which all people of good conscience — especially Jews — would forgo their special privileges and NOT go to Jerusalem until Palestinian people can travel as well.
Now you are all confusing me. I never said all Jews are Zionists, though by not saying “Next year in Jerusalem” aren’t we conflating Zionism with Judaism? Since that saying far predates modern Zionism?
Does it? Can we get a second opinion on that, perhaps? I suppose I wouldn’t know.
It’s true, Chaos, they’ve been saying this phrase for a long long time – since they invented the exodus.
Good point, if wikipedia is ok here is a link
link to en.wikipedia.org
Definitely the passover Haggadah is pretty old. It seems that “Next Year in Jerusalem” was always a part of this book
Okay then, the next question is, “Does it matter?” Seriously, what’s it supposed to mean when a Jewish family in Jerusalem says it at passover?
Being there doesn’t mean owning the place.
Who should own Jerusalem? Should anybody? Should it be an “international city”?
Ask Israel, they’re the ones that conquered it.
Do you mean to say that whomever conquers a city is in the moral high ground?
If that was the case then what is the point of this blog? You may as well say that the entire land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people.
Palestinian Christians, Palestinian Moslem and Palestinian Jews own the holy lands (Palestinian pagans too, if there’s any left!).
Jerusalem was always Arab, with multi-religious flavors.
The european zionists and their supporters/enablers want it all jewish (for very dubious reasons) – this will never be allowed by the region or the world.
You wanna die for your faith, then just go live in Israel cause the big death machine is coming to decide who owns it.
The big war is coming, not because you and I say so, but because all the pieces are already on the chess board. All everyone is waiting for now is the first shot to be fired. Who will fire it? This we will have to wait and see.
Hope this satisfies your ‘inquiring mind’.
Not exactly, I’m confused why it would be wrong to say “Next year in Jerusalem” or even to build anywhere in that city or in other cities like Ramallah. In this case it should be ok for both Jews and Pagans and Arabs to build anywhere in Ramallah and Jerusalem.
It’s not ‘wrong’ to say anything you want to, though often there are consequences (both good or bad) to ‘said words’.
Truly BSDNOW, I think the rightful owners of the holy land, the Palestinians (of all faiths) should really be the ones who decide their destiny.
Europeans of all faiths, who want to live in the holy land, should do what everyone else on the planet does when then want to live in a foreign country: get a visa or a citizenship. The Palestinians would be smart to allow large swaths of jewish migrants as well as christian and moslem immigrants, to live in the holy land for religious purposes. It is after all a land holy to three denominations who all believe apparently in the SAME ONE GOD.
Do you mean to say that holds for anyone not born in Israel? Or would that also hold for people born in Israel and Jerusalem. For example, would a Jew of European extraction have to apply for citizenship, although being a third generation Jerusalemite?
Or does that hold for people from Arab and European countries that were not born in Israel though want to move into the Holy land?
What is the ‘Jewish people’? Did all Jews agree w/ this ‘conquering’?
Should criminal behavior, i.e. the rape/massacres/etc. which led to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and establishment of a Jewish State be legitimized?
Are you a Jewish supremacist, BSD?
Excuse me Cliff, I didn’t mean to offend you. I simply get concerned when we talk about the “consequences” of saying “Next Year in Jerusalem” we should separate Judaism from Zionism and let Jews celebrate Passover in the traditional manner
Are you saying that Judaism and Zionism should be equated? If that’s true, then if the Jewish State commits a crime, should Judaism as a religion be to blame?
Obviously, like most countries in the civilized world, if you’re born in a foreign country you have special rights in that country. If some individuals (israelis) have committed atrocities or terrorist acts against civilians, then they should definitely stay in Palestine, be tried in a court of law and serve time for their crimes.
South Africa had their ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ commission. Palestinians can also use this model.
No way not at all, though it does get confusing because we are suggesting on this particular blog post to change the Jewish seder because of Zionist actions.
Taxi, what special rights do you mean? Are you saying that Jews living now in Israel would become some sort of “resident aliens”?
BSDNOW, what are you suggesting? That Jews living now in Israel would suddenly find out what it’s like to be Palestinian in your own homeland?
Being there doesn’t mean owning the place.
——————–
And being there doesn’t mean let’s build a Jewish state. Let’s kick the locals around..
BDSNOW,
Special rights means the option of full citizenship.
Give it back to the Jebusites.
If you think about it, it’s obvious that the “next year” thing is “celebrating Passover in the traditional manner of the Diaspora, which is hardly the original Jewish tradition. Jews living in the Kingdom of Israel or Judea were already in Jerusalem.
But even more so, the fundamental idea of Passover – the exodus from Egypt – could not have included any reference to Jerusalem, which belonged at the time to the Jebusites.
“The traditional manner” of most traditions now considered “Jewish” has nothing to do with the original Jewish religion. It’s just stuff that they made up thousands of years later in the shtels.
So Cliff, your first sentence you question there is a Jewish people, how can one be a Jewish supremacist w/ out a Jewish people. Please debate me, don’t throw a shit fit and leave.
I didn’t say ‘Jews’ were nonexistent. I questioned the notion of a ‘Jewish people’ which isn’t the same thing as saying ‘Jews’. The ‘people’ part is the emphasis. The context is nationalism.
Obvious explanation is obvious. Try harder, phony.
“It’s just stuff that they made up thousands of years later in the shtels.”
I’m pretty sure there isn’t a lot that isn’t.
yonira,
Funny how you relish using the word ‘shit’ time and time again to express yourself.
Somehow it makes sense that ‘shit’ is your most favored word.
you’re a tool Taxi, I was quoting Cliff verbatim.
You think they wore shtreimels in the time of King David, if such a person existed? Did they eat gefilte fish? Light menorahs?
Pre-Diaspora Judaism centered around Temple sacrifice. When that was no longer possible, a lot of stuff was made up to fill the religious void, and that stuff became “Jewish tradition” that the ancestral Jews would never have recognized.
I can imagine some prophet denouncing the innovations – “Everything new since the year 4000 is forbidden!”
I can tell you were really really, like REALLY wanting to use your favorite word again – but phew! thank crumbs-of-jesus you managed to resist and instead use the not-s0-brown word ‘tool’.
Wow, yonira, you’re actually making civil progress!
“Did they eat gefilte fish?”
True story! Every word! I was meeting a guy at his office, who had been suggested to me as a tax preparer, an ETA (Enrolled Tax Agent). Well, he found out I was Jewish (my name usually starts us down that road) and when the answer was affirmative, he insisted, he wouldn’t rest until I ate a jar of Gelfite Fish (Manischevitz, that thin sort of squarish jar). Look, I like gelfite fish, and my Aunt Hannah made a mean batch, with coarse-grated fish and chopped carrots, eaten with hot horseradish. But the jar he offered, I’m pretty sure, dated back to the reign of King David. I think he brought it with him from the East Coast in case he met any Jews out here.
And yeah, this was in 2001, and from him I also got the Let’s-invade-Iraq-because-Palestinians-were-dancing-about-911.
Oy Gevalt what a world!
Chaos4700, not at all. I was only looking to clarify. It’s important to hear out different use cases for a solution to the conflict. I hope that Taxi can further help out with clarification.
Thanks
Ok, I see, so you are saying, Taxi, that Jews would be stripped of citizenship and then they would have “Special Rights” with the option of regaining citizenship?
People born in Israel, including the children of immigrants from the Fillipines, china etc should have the option of becoming FULL citizens of the new Palestinian state. If anyone of them has committed crimes against civilians, they would first have to serve time for their crime before they can be legitimized/integrated into the new state. If these criminals do not want to go to jail, then they should just go live somewhere else altogether, preferably back to their european roots and ancestral homelands.
BSDNOW, multiculturalism is here to say for the remainder of the 21st century and thereafter (if we survive that long). Zionism is segregationist and refuses to deal and accommodate this pressing reality. In the end, when Israel falls, it will be because of their stubborn refusal to accept this multi-culturalism which most of the world embraces.
Ok, so the people living in Hebron now and Jerusalem would be stripped of their current citizenship and become resident aliens until their new applications were approved?
Sure, just like anywhere else in the world.
Nobody gets treated special, not even Palestinians, and everybody follows the the same laws and regulations.
The idea is to level the field and make EVERYONE who wants to live there equal.
(thanks for the chat, gotta run)
It’s too bad you have to run. It would be nice to work more of this out, for example for how long would the Jews in Hebron lose their citizenship for.
the people living in Hebron now..
—————-
BDS NOW (sorry but I prefer it that way)
Do you have the slightest, foggiest idea what this kind of people is really about? Have you ever read about them, heard of them or seen any of them?
Hebron settlers/colonists are a UNIQUE brand of humans. A vicious and a virulent strain of humanity gone awfully rogue..They “elevated” cruelty to a status of fine art.
Bear with me and watch this short video: It’s a unique opportunity to get a quick understanding of what EVIL is about..
link to youtube.com
Nobody will lose their humanitarian rights, birth certificate rights or anything like that. Everyone will be given a period of time to process their paperwork. Your friends in Hebron for example will be allowed to carry on with their lives as per normal during the transition.
Can we pick this some other time – my dinner is ready.
BTW, the word ‘sharmoota’ the settler woman repeats while teasing with her tongue means whore in Arabic..
Enjoy..
Atheist,
Thanks for the link. It’s definitely the case that stone throwing and name calling like the sort highlighted in that video will be a big problem as we look for a solution to the conflict.
As I understand is there are both Jewish and Arab populations that live in, and lay claim to Hebron. In either case, unmitigated building should be allowed by both in the one or two state solution, though the question of citizenship is an important one I was looking to iron out in this forum.
Taxis idea of stripping the Jews of Hebron of citizenship is interesting but it leaves a vacuum where for a time there are people that have no resident status.
It would be interesting to hear more options for the citizenship issue.
One more quick thing: I don’t agree with hurting jewish people, they’ve suffered enough. I do strongly feel though that zionism is bad for everyone including the good and decent jews of the world. To my mind zionism is a racist ideology birthed by aethist politicians hailing from europe, as attested by the founders’ surnames.
Your friends in Hebron for example will be allowed to carry on with their lives as per normal
———————–
Could we do without those ones please?!! Not a gift from “god” those monsters are!..I’m guessing the Israelis are just happy they’re dumping their rubbish in Hebron..They wouldn’t want them in Israel proper.
Taxi,
Thanks for the clarification. What would be the steps for the Jews of Hebron and Jerusalem to take to become Palestinian citizens?
“stone throwing and name calling”
———————
??!!!
Is that all you parsed from the video..Did you really watch it? I doubt it!! The Palestinian family is caged in!! They’re subjected to mental cruelty and psychological torture ( as the settler herself admits to) on a daily basis. They’re surrounded, abused, beaten, verbally and physically poked and teased every minute of the day..The children monsters are unleashed by their parents like rabid pitbulls to haunt the members of the family and make sure they wouldn’t get out of their cage..!!
You haven’t watched anything, my friend! You don’t want to know.
Atheist,
I’m sorry I offended you. I really hope that all violence can end in the conflict including stone throwing, name calling, mental cruelty, pshychological torture and keeping entire families in cages.
My specific questions were related to citizenship issues and I hope to explore that further.
You don’t have anything to worry about, thankgodimatheist. I hear most of them will be revolted (because of racism) to live under a Palestinian flag. The real zealots would want to either move or create incitement and agitation which will be against the law and will lead them straight to jail/prison. Maybe inside a cell they can meditate on what it REALLY means to be god’s good children in the holy lands.
Taxi,
Are we talking about what is now considered the West Bank? Or what is now considered Israel?
One issue I see is that Jews are a majority between the Jordan river and the medittereanean, that would mean that racist laws against arabs could be passed democratically in the new state of Palestine, or even worse, the majority could simply vote it into being called Israel, and a Jewish state, etc.
One problem is services–gas, electricity, water, garbage, sewerage, street-cleaning–all the services which (except in America where people do not believe in government services) are usually provided [1] by the government in return for taxes [2] on a rationally large geographical area.
Logically, it makes sense to re-divide Jerusalem so that West of Old-City is Israeli, East of Old-City is Palestinian and Old-City itself is international somehow, perhaps in the same way that the UN building in NYC (and all the federal buildings, too, of course) are in some sense NOT part of NYC.
As to population transfers, it is clear to me (if not to all others) that all Israelis should be removed from all settlements (buildings) and repatriated to pre-1967 Israeli territory BECAUSE the law forbids them to be where they are — in occupied territory. That “BECAUSE” is, for me, more than enough.
This repatriation should be accomplished very soon, because it will take a while to do it and another while to get used to it. Israelis must learn in their bones that they are [1] legitimate in their pre-1967 territory, and [2] not allowed in occupied territory (except the army as long as the occupation continues). There will be anger and acting-out (I really fear that acting-out by settlers as in Hebron recently). The Israeli government must (in my view) acquiesce in the separation; editorials in the newspapers and speakers on TV must explain and teach why this has come about. Someone will have to explain whose “mistake” it was to allow settlements in the first place. (Someone will have to explain that in the USA as well.)
I’m personally conflicted about the choice between [1] requiring a total evacuation in a relative hurry to be COMPLETED before peace negotiations resume and [2] allowing peace negotiations to proceed in parallel with a staged withdrawal, thereby allowing some Israelis to remain in whatever territory remains “Israeli” when the negotiations are completed. I think that method [2] would hurry the negotiations along and that [1] might leave things in a timeless limbo.
However, there is another point. Israel will not remove the settlers unless forced to and whoever weilds the force (Obama, presumably) can also force details of the peace treaty as well. And all will know that.
so, “next year in Jerusalem” may soon mean a visit to an international enclave, a “corpus separatum”, just as envisioned by UNGA 181 in 1947.
Ok that is a lot better because it is more detailed. Who would be in charge of expelling the Jews from Jerusalem?
I am down, I think you are a right on pablemont. I couldn’t agree with you anymore.
just silently bask in the glow of vindication – it will feel really good
In the talkback for the Haaretz article concerning the lifting of the clothes and shoe blockade of Gaza, there was this entry which I found to be particularly poignant:
“What a beautiful celebration, happy families and friends at the table, the four questions, the cups of wine, fabulous food, songs–the retelling of the fabulous tale of slavery and freedom. And yet today, in the very land that tribal legend says that God gave to Moses, the natives are ironically suffering in ways reminiscent of the travails of the Hebrews. In Exodus, it is said that the Egyptians forced the Hebrews to build cities for them. Who is forced to build the settlements in order to have money to live? Palestinians. The Egyptians treated the Hebrews harshly, yet they continued to multiply, like the Arabs, who are not vanishing. Pharaoh ordered that the Hebrews could not have straws to make bricks. The Gazans cannot have concrete to rebuild their homes, schools and businesses. Maybe it is time to look around and see that we are all the same and that no man can tyrannize another.”
link to haaretz.com
Wow! Thank you for bringing that excellent post to our attention! What this Jewish holiday represents for Israel is a ritual steeped in breathtaking hypocrisy of staggering proportions.
Meanwhile Palestinians are emprisoned behind those walls and checkpoints with no freedom of movement during Passover. How rich is that??
I thoroughly enjoyed this article. There is no hope whatsoever for Palestinians unless Jews of conscience and integrity stand up against this injustice. Imagine sitting at a bountiful table knowing that children in Gaza are being deprived of a home with a roof over their heads and their own room while in East Jerusalem there are children witnessing the demolition of their homes and the deterioration of their lives? Instead they’re forced to sleep in tents with their whole family or what’s left of their family in the case of Gaza’s children.
(Emprisoned in my previous post should be “imprisoned”.)
Mark Elf (alias Gabriel) of Jews Sans Frontieres has posted:
A JSF Passover Special: a You Tube Seder
Seder means the protocol for an evening, composed of various readings of texts, the menu and related actions. You’ll have to decide on the menu yourself, but here is a short Seder of youtube clips on the theme of recalling the Jews that Zionism despises.
link to jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com
Gabriel Ash, aka Evildoer, posts regularly at JSF, but he and Mark Elf are two separate people.
Ah! Sorry about that. I read JSF regularly, but haven’t yet picked up the clues about who’s who. It has a very leftist slant, and many of its views would be deemed classical Communism.
Regarding the discussion on Hebron: the city is the major Palestinian city of the southern portion of the West Bank and has long been known for strong resistance against the Israeli occupation. The first Israeli settlement was Kiryat Arba, founded in 1968, by future Gush Emunim members led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger and Rabbi Eliezer Waldman. Building began on an abandoned military base in 1970, and residents moved in in 1971.
I visited the place in 1978, and was shocked by the aggressive attitude of the residents.
The town is home to the Rabbi Meir Kahane Memorial Park, in memory of the founder of Kach, a Jewish religious and nationalist right wing organization designated as a terrorist group by the US, the EU and Israel. The grave of Baruch Goldstein, who perpetrated the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre lies across the street from the park and has become a place of pilgrimage for the Far Right.
This gives a flavour of the type of settlers Kiryat Arba has attracted.
Beginning in 1979, some Jewish settlers moved from Kiryat Arba to found the Committee of The Jewish Community of Hebron in the former Jewish neighbourhood near the Abraham Avinu Synagogue, and later to other Hebron neighborhoods including Tel Rumeida. They took over the former Hadassah Hospital, Daboya Hospital, now Beit Hadassah in central Hebron. Before long this received Israeli government approval and a further three Jewish enclaves in the city were established with Israeli army assistance, and settlers are currently reported to be trying to purchase more homes in the city.
The Jewish settlers of Hebron (about 500-800) share the small portion of Hebron called H2 with about 30,000 Palestinians. There have been continuous incidents of friction between settlers and resident Palestinians, in all of which the IDF take the side of the settlers.
see: link to en.wikipedia.org
Hebron commander Noam Tivon said “Let there be no mistake about it. I am not from the UN. I am from the Israeli Defense Force. I did not come here to seek people to drink tea with, but first of all to ensure the security of the Jewish settlers”
All 500-800 of them, amongst 30,000 Palestinians in their enclave. plus the 130,000 who residents of Herbron who live outside it.