>In a previous post I wrote about Neil Silberman’s post in which he declared his opposition to the decision of the Israeli government to declare the Cave of Machpelah a Heritage Site.

In a recent article, Jeremy Sharon declared his support of the Israeli government’s decision by saying that “Palestinian protests against the restoration of Jewish heritage sites are part of a campaign of delegitimisation against Israel.”

The following is an excerpt from his article:

Unfortunately, the inclusion in the restoration plan of two of the most sacred Jewish sites, the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb, has sparked riots in the West Bank and Jerusalem over the past few days and led supposedly moderate Palestinian leaders to burst forth with disturbingly inflammatory rhetoric. Mahmoud Abbas even raised the spectre of “religious war” in light of the inclusion of these two sites. The international community weighed in too, with the US State Department and the UN secretary general, both reprimanding Israel for the decision.

Why has the seemingly innocuous announcement to upgrade these sites prompted such a caustic response? Muslims have full access to the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Islamic waqf’s role in administering it remains unchanged. Rachel’s Tomb is currently only accessible via Israel, but this has been the case since the late 1990s, owing to the high number of Palestinian attacks against the site in recent years.

Regrettably, it seems that this latest uproar, just like the unrest last autumn regarding the Temple Mount, is yet another example of the general Palestinian unwillingness to accept and acknowledge the deep-seated historical roots of the Jewish people in the region.

This is evidenced by numerous statements made by Palestinian political and religious leaders in recent days, such as that of Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and highest Islamic authority in the Holy Land. He said that Israel has “devoted all of its efforts to steal Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Palestinian cities to change their Arab and Islamic character to prove the country is Jewish”. The theme of Israel “stealing” Islamic sites for its own cultural and political purposes was also explicitly mentioned by Abbas, as well as by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (who called for a new intifada as well).

The implication is that the Cave of the Patriarchs has nothing to do with the Jewish people and the Israeli government is fabricating history for political ends. But the shrine is mentioned in the Bible and has been a focus of Jewish pilgrimage for more than 3,000 years. It is Judaism’s second holiest site and is central to Jewish national identity as the burial place of the people’s three forefathers.

Read Sharon’s article in its entirety by clicking here.

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Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Cave of Machpelah, Heritage Sites, Jeremy Sharon

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