Maze of Terror: a Settler's Diary
Fear and faith in a West Bank settlement
With the townspeople going to the grave to pray.
With the stationery store lady on tranquilizers to bear these turbulent times.
There are those who say, "We are witnessing the Redemption. These are the days before the coming of the Messiah." MARCH 28, 1994. We came to Kibbutz Lotan, 40 miles north of Eilat, to spend our Passover vacation. We have already had a drastic change from the chaos and gunfire and constant news reports to the utter quiet peace of the kibbutz. APRIL 5, 1994. Back in Kiryat Arba.
Back to worrying about my husband on the roads, my daughter Estie and my son Shmuelie.
Back to the Army encampment on the lawn by my window.
Back to the ghetto.
For that's what Kiryat Arba has become. Apparently, Kiryat Arba was made a ghetto during our absence.
We're not allowed into Hebron. On the Sabbath preceding the Seder, Jews who tried to go were arrested and put in jail at military headquarters. Then right before the Passover fell, they were transferred to Jerusalem, where no Seder and only two matzos awaited a group of six. I understand this is how Seders were made clandestinely in Russia. Two matzos shared with a community of Jews. There is a Bolshevik feeling in Israel now. The government is arresting all dissidents or harassing them.
We found out yesterday that this was because of the planned evacuation of Hebron. Apparently, that plan was put off when a lot of rabbis issued a proclamation that Jews must resist the Army if soldiers come to evacuate them.
The mood here is of incredulous disbelief. The hatred of the left-wing minority government against the "right-wing settlers," against the religious, is intensely felt and people wonder where it will end.
In two weeks, Rabin has agreed to allow U.N. observers and Red Cross observers into Hebron. They will be followed by Palestinian police. APRIL 6, 1994. I thought it was a beautiful spring day. I thought it would be a day you just could go outside and listen to the beautiful "coo" of doves. I wanted to see the flowers and feel the sun warming the ground.
You know, I said to myself, maybe Baruch Goldstein did clear the air. Since his massacre, no Jews have been killed.
I walked outside and heard the news. In Afula, a suicide driver in a booby trapped car exploded in front of a bus stop where students were gathered, killing at least eight people.
The Jews in Hebron are being kept under something like house arrest. Word sifted up to us that they're not allowed to leave their houses without an Army escort, but Army escorts are rarely available, so in effect they are confined.
No one is allowed to visit them. Chaya Barness's mother, a Holocaust survivor who lives in Kiryat Arba, is not allowed into Hebron to see her daughter.
People think this cracking down on the Jews in Hebron is either a preparation for evacuation or an attempt to make their lives so miserable that they run away on their own. [Map labels]: Israel; West Bank; Jerusalem; Med. Sea; Hebron; Kiryat Arba; Dead Sea; Beersheba [Map not available.]
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