I did not vanish
The history of Jewish Hebron Revisited
It is a warm sunny day, as I take the bus from Tel Aviv towards the small Israeli town of Kfar Saba. The journey takes about one hour. Kilometres away from the West Bank city of Hebron, I am coming closer to its Jewish history more than ever: Kfar Saba happens to be the hometown of Yona Rochlin-Hasson, a direct descendent to the original Jewish community of Hebron.
“My father was born in Hebron”, Rochlin-Hasson begins the explanation of her relationship to perhaps the most controversial place in the West Bank. Her Hebronite family tree is a combination of two famous Jewish families: her grandmother came from the Mani family, originally from Iraq, and her grandfather was a Hasson. Her grandmother’s grandfather was the famous Chief Rabbi Eliahu Mani. “The Mani family was considered the most aristocratic in the life of Hebron" she says.
Her father's family did not live in the Jewish quarter of Hebron, but among the Arab population. "My father, as a young boy, lived a totally Arabic life. They lived peacefully and wonderfully with the Arabs,” Rochlin-Hasson describes. But before 1929 the family had to leave Hebron for Jerusalem because of financial reasons.
Until the end of his life, Yona Rochlin-Hasson's father dreamed of returning to Hebron. "He belonged more to that kind of life than the life here."
The Massacre of 1929
One of the tragic moments in the history of Hebron is the massacre of 1929, where many Jewish residents of Hebron were killed brutally as part of the Arab riots. After the massacre was over, 67 people had been killed. According to Rochlin-Hasson, there is not one version of what exactly happened then. Some say that the killers came from outside the city, and the real neighbours almost sacrificed their lives protecting the Jewish people.
"There was a mixture of many reasons, many stories. A story that has in a way been hidden, is that many of the Jewish community were also saved by the Arabs. There is an official list of people who protected the Jews with their own bodies." The list includes the names of 19 Arab families.
Because Yona Rochlin-Hasson's father's family had left Hebron before 1929, none of them were affected by the massacre. But her father's uncle, Rabbi Hasson was killed in the massacre. Some of her relatives were saved by the Arabs. The granddaughter of Rabbi Eliahu Mani, Zemira Mani with her family was saved by Abu 'Id Zeitun.
The "Triumph" of 1967
In the war of 1967, Israel captured the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It was a big triumph for the Israelis, and Hebron became accessible for the Israelis for the first time in decades. It was then that Yona Rochlin-Hasson visited Hebron for the first time in her life with her father. Many Israelis visited the West Bank in the aftermath of the war, and she still remembers the atmosphere of that time and the warm welcome received from the Arabs. Her father spoke fluent Arabic, so the relationship was always good.
"Nobody understood the idea of occupation then, only a few people. All the rest of us were so naïve about the things that now we understand and can see. Who can believe that people would like to live under occupation? If it was not so tragic, it would almost be funny, that we thought that we were doing them a great favour, and that we would all be able to live together. But that was the atmosphere after 1967."
Despite the Hebronite background of her father, Yona Rochlin-Hasson grew up in a very right-wing family. Her father had been a member in the Jewish terrorist organisation the Irgun, and her mother’s brother was a Parliament member of the Likud. Her father was in fact in support of the settlers.
"As a young woman, I did not want to live in a settlement, but I used to live very peacefully with the idea of the settlements. Nobody even thought about it if you were not very political." She also believes that her father, now dead for over twenty years, supported the settlers only because he sincerely believed that there could be a possibility for coexistence. What, then, made Yona Rochlin-Hasson change her mind?
"It was something that built inside me. All of a sudden, I started to think as a mother, as a mother of two soldiers. I switched totally from the mentality of the political ideas that came from my home. It was after Oslo that I became much more political, and more leftist. I started to think against the settlements" In 1996 there were talks going on about the Israeli Defence Forces leaving parts of the city of Hebron, and the settlers were against it. It was then that Yona Rochlin-Hasson decided that she would talk for the division, against the settlers, and use her biography in doing it.
Talking against the Settlers
The support of Yona Rochlin-Hasson and the other descendants of the Jewish community of Hebron would have been very important for the settlers. Many of the most important landmarks of the settlers today can be somehow traced back to them: "Beit Hadassa was built by my great grandfather, it functioned as a hospital. The settlers wanted to buy it from us, under the table. And there is a building called Beit Hasson in Hebron that used to belong to Rabbi Hasson, my father's uncle."
Today, Beit Hadassa and its neighbouring building Beit Hasson are occupied by the settlers, and serve as residential houses for settler families. There is also a museum and a memorial room for the 1929 massacre in Beit Hadassa. But none of the settlers are direct descendents of the original Jewish community.
In 1996, some of the descendants visited Hebron and its Palestinian Mayor Mustafa Natshe. The same year a statement called: "Message from the original Jewish community of Hebron: Evacuate settlers", came out. Yona Rochlin-Hasson was one of the 25 undersigned. The statement urged that the settlers did not have the right to speak in the name of the old Jewish community, since "they are alien to the culture and way of life of the Hebron Jews, who in the course of generations created a heritage of peace between peoples and understanding between faiths." Also, the settlers had never been granted the right to be the heirs of the property of the old community.
When Rabbi Eliahu Mani, Rochlin-Hasson's ancestor, first arrived in Hebron, he made sure that he established good relationships with the Arabs. He realized that without them the city would never flourish. "But when the first settlers came, they came to the city to take revenge for the 1929 massacre and their main idea was to drive out the Arabs and turn Hebron into a Jewish city.", Rochlin-Hasson says. The results for Hebron have been tragic.
"The settlers brainwash you that in 1929 the Arabs killed the whole Jewish community. They keep into this thing politically, and it's such a big lie! And how can somebody say that he is the continuity of the old community if he doesn't belong to the family, and not to the mentality? When we spoke against the settlers, it was the first time that somebody said that they are not the continuity of the old community, we are. And we don’t support them." Yona Rochlin-Hasson states. The centuries-old Jewish community of Hebron did not vanish. The families did leave the city, or were evacuated. But their descendants still exist, not in Hebron, but all over Israel: in Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem - and Kfar Saba.
Alien Elements to Judaism
Hebron is a very important religious site for Judaism. The Cave of Macpelah, according to tradition, hosts the graves of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To Yona Rochlin-Hasson however, the importance of religious tombs as such seems to be far fetched: going to a tomb has never been a religious order, a mitzvah. Instead, it is a mitzvah not to make any idols, statues and pictures.
"The main thing in Judaism is that you do not need to feel, you only believe. Judaism is spiritual. Recently people have started to cherish tombs and transform the religion into a new Judaism. Running to Joseph's tomb, it is not real Judaism, it is paganism. It is not part of our belief. So if you ask me if we need Rachel's tomb, and Abraham's tomb - we don’t!"
Yona Rochlin-Hasson wants to respect the beliefs of people, to whom religious sites are holy. But as a mother of two IDF soldiers, she feels that there is a limit to everything:"It's fine with me until it is a question of my own son. If you want to go to Shechem to go to Joseph's tomb, go there, but don’t ask me to give my child to the army in order to protect you, and risk his life. I don't accept this. When a political question comes to life risking, it's awful."
One of the biggest arguments of the importance of Hebron is that the Jews have their origins and historical roots there. "Many religious people say that you cannot grow a tree that is taken out at its roots. For me it’s kind of funny, I feel a sense of belonging here, there is no question of me being an Israeli. I don’t need to touch stones to get inspiration about why I am here."
The future fate of Hebron, from Rochlin-Hasson's point of view, would be very simple: evacuating the settlers immediately, without hesitation. The situation with Hebron's present Jewish community has become unbearable. "Why is the Jewish presence needed? Why? Because of the stupid house of my grandfather? Why, because of stones?", Rochlin-Hasson asks. "The small amount of property that I would have in Hebron, I will give it up for peace. I don’t need it, I prefer peace. If we are the descendants, and we say we don’t want the property, they need to listen to us."
True History of Hebron– Sign for hope
According to Yona Rochlin-Hasson, much of the Jewish history in the Middle East has been interpreted very one-sidedly. "We always studied that this place came into life when the first Zionists came here. That they came to an empty land. Before Zionism, there was nothing. In the pictures we saw the nice Zionists and a camel. And then you are also informed that in 1929 there were riots. So this is the common history, the Israeli narrative."
Rochlin-Hasson places the guilt of 1929 and the present violent conflict partly on Zionism. Before the arrival of Zionism, the Jewish community in Hebron lived together with the Arabs in peace for centuries. This was the part of history that could not be read or studied anywhere.
“We were taught that the instant a Jew put his foot in this place the Arabs wanted to kill him. If we had grown up studying the true story, that the Jewish community lived here very peacefully with the Arabs, then I think the whole situation would now be different.”
