Bob Westbrook, of Tampa, Florida, is a computer professional with his own consulting business. He writes commentaries from a Christian Zionist perspective, endeavoring to encourage Christian support for Israel. He is the Bible Prophecy moderator for the website Israel My Beloved and the author of Trumpet Sounds.
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Yitzhak, Oriyah and Shalhevet Pass (Hebron Jewish community)

Hebron, target of terror
By Bob Westbrook   March 29, 2001

In Hebron, a city south of Jerusalem in the Judean mountains, some famous Jewish toddlers have played in the streets. Isaac and Jacob may have taken their first steps and spoken their first words there. Some of King David's children, including Amnon and Absalom, surely played children's games there. But a Jewish toddler named Shalhevet Pass, 10 months old, won't be playing there anymore. She was shot today, shot in the head by Palestinian snipers.

Not many days ago, I stood near the spot where she was shot, and gazed up at the nearby hillside from which sniper fire rains down on the Jews. What kinds of beasts target 10-month-old baby girls with sniper fire? Is there any cause that could justify such cruelty? No, not even a just cause -- and the Palestinian cause in Hebron and the "West Bank" is far from just, as far removed as is conceivable.

Don't believe the propaganda that these Palestinians are merely oppressed freedom fighters, nobly struggling for their cause. The unspeakable brutality and heartlessness of actions like today's put the lie to all such propaganda. These are nothing but terrorists, and deserve the fate of terrorists.

Unfortunately, the Jews of Hebron are surrounded by such terrorists. On my recent visit to Israel, I traveled to that city. Abraham, David, and other notables traveled there first, long before those dusty hills were crowded with the haphazard Arab concrete structures.

My mode of transport there was quite different than Abraham's and David's. Neither of them took a specially armored, bulletproof public bus. But I did.

Hebron is a hotspot in Israel today, where some 700 courageous Jews are determined to live among 120,000 Muslim Arabs. The Arabs there are opposed to that, of course, and have fired on and otherwise attacked the bus numerous times, hence the armor. A few days after my trip, that same bus was hit by a couple of firebombs on the route.

Along with 2 companions, I boarded the Egged public bus #160 in Jerusalem for the ride over the Judean mountains to Hebron. It does not take long to get there, but it is a ride that traverses 4000 years of Jewish history.

Today, there is scant evidence of the Jewish ownership of this city. Yes, there are archeological remains from David's era. Yes, the ancient burial caves are still there, marked by a large building from the Second Temple Era, though the caves are currently inaccessible. But what one sees when entering the city are numerous hostile Muslims roaming the streets, along with an ample presence of IDF soldiers to keep them at bay.

Our tour guide, David Wilder, who is himself a Jewish resident of Hebron, showed us where the windows of the Jewish apartments are sandbagged to protect against Arab sniper fire. He showed us bullet holes in the bathroom wall of one of the homes there. From the street, he showed us the Muslim homes on the hillside from which sniper fire had hit a 19-year-old visitor a few days before.

David Wilder was a very gracious host, showing us the historical sites and answering our unending stream of questions. When asked about the political stance now in Israel regarding Hebron and the other Jewish "settlements," it was not difficult to sense a degree of frustration from Mr. Wilder. Yet it is a frustration tempered by optimism.

The frustration is because Israel's political leaders do not seem to understand the historic, symbolic, and Biblical importance of places like Hebron. To the politicians, the Hebrons and Bethlehems and Shechems are just tokens to bargain with, throwaways in their feckless pursuit of "peace." But now, with a man like Sharon as Prime Minister, perhaps Israeli people are beginning to see the preposterous "land for peace" for the fallacy that it is.

I mentioned to Wilder that I had been sadly surprised when then Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu had ceded Hebron to the Palestinians, seemingly in contradiction to his stated principles. When asked about the handover of Hebron according to the Oslo accords, Wilder expressed his utter disappointment in Netanyahu. When asked whether he thought Netanyahu had learned anything by his experience as Prime Minister, by his failure to stand firm on Hebron and other Judean/Samarian towns, Wilder replied, "No."

Unlike the majority of the Israeli public and politicians, Wilder and the other Jews who live in Hebron are convinced of the vital importance of sustaining a Jewish presence there, regardless of the dangers. Their resolve in the face of terror attacks like today's is more than admirable. To sustain themselves, they maintain the hope and belief that the situation will not stay as it is, that the terror regularly imposed on them will not continue. At some point, they maintain, the damage done by Oslo will be undone, and the IDF will once again take control of the hills of Hebron. They are right.

Today, after the murder of Shalhevet Pass, Noam Arnon, a spokesman for the Jewish settlers in Hebron, stated, "We demand that all this territory be recaptured and the terrorists be wiped out. There is no other solution. The head of the snake must be crushed." He is right.

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