Sunday, 12 February 2012
The tomb of Rachel the Righteous is at a distance of 1½ miles from Jerusalem, in the middle of the field, not far from Bethlehem, as it says in the Torah. On Passover and Lag B'Omer many people – men and women, young and old – go out to Rachel's Tomb on foot and on horseback. And many pray there, make petitions and dance around the tomb and eat and drink."
We have a tradition from our rabbis that Yaakov our forefather buried Rachel Imeinu [our mother] "on the way" in Beit Lechem, so she would help all her children who passed by "on the way" and cry for them.. As it is written "Rachel cries for her children, she refuses to be comforted for her children who are absent." And You Hashem returned them to her, as it is written, "So says Hashem, cease your crying for there is a reward for your actions, by the word of G-d they will return from enemy lands, and there is hope for your end, as is the word of G-d, and your children will return to their borders" Yirmiahu 31:11. [Rachel Imeinu Foundation]
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), which has accepted the Palestinian Authority as a state, claims Rachel’s Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs [Me'arat Hamachpela, the Patriarch's Cave] are not exclusively Jewish sites and also belong to Christians and Muslims.Israel has announced that the two holy places, dating back thousands of years, are being included in the country’s national heritage sites.Rachel's Tomb is located immediately south of Jerusalem, "on the road to Efrata" near Bethlehem, where the Bible records (Genesis 18,19) that the matriarch was buried.The other matriarchs – Sarah, Rebecca (Rivka) and Leah – and the forefathers Avraham, Isaac (Yitzchak) and Yaakov (Jacob) are buried at the Patriarchs’ Cave in Hevron, which the Bible records was bought by Avraham for an enormous sum of money.However, UNESCO director Irina Bokova has accepted the view of UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, who warned that Israel’s inclusion of the two Biblical Jewish sites could harm the moribund peace process. UNESCO admitted the PA as a member four months ago despite the fact that PA chariman Mahmound Abbas failed to gain recognition in the international organization's General Assembly.In a statement by the Paris-based agency, she did not explain the supposed Christianand Muslim connection with Rachel's Tomb. Palestinian Authority Muslim clerics have suddenly claimed in the past two years that Rachel’s Tomb actually was a Muslim site thousands of years ago, even though Islam was only founded 1,500 years ago.Christians and Muslims built over Jewish structures at the Patriarchs’ Cave during the Crusades and the Muslim conquest.Jews were ony allowed to ascend seven of the many steps to the Tomb of the Patriarchs.During the Jordanian occupation of Hevron from 1948 to 1967, Jews were not allowed to visit Jewish sites in Hevron, the Old City of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the region, and Christians also were prohibited from visiting their holy places.Israel opened up all holy sites to the three religions after the Six-Day War in 1967.In her statement, Bokova stated, “UNESCO has been mandated by its member States to provide assistance to the Palestinian Authority in the fields of education and culture. It has been working with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian civil society to protect and preserve the cultural heritage sites in the West Bank and is committed to continue doing so.”The Palestinian Authority has increased efforts to claim several locations in Judea and Samaria as being under their sovereignty, including the Dead Sea and the Qumran Caves, where the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls, containing the books of the Jewish Bible, were discovered in 1947.
The Obama administration criticized Israel Wednesday for designating two shrines in the West Bank as Israeli national heritage sites....
... the State Department on Wednesday sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for adding two shrines in the West Bank to Israel's list of national heritage sites. The move, announced Sunday, sparked Palestinian protests and has drawn criticism from other quarters, including the United Nations.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the administration viewed the move as provocative and unhelpful to the goal of getting the two sides back to the table.Toner said U.S. displeasure with the designations of the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank town of Hebron and the traditional tomb of the biblical matriarch Rachel in Bethlehem had been conveyed to senior Israeli officials by American diplomats....
List of [all] National Heritage Sites of Israel ...designated by the government of Israel:
- Atlit detainee camp, Atlit: Detention center for Jewish immigrants seeking refuge in Palestine during the Mandated period.
- Cave of the Patriarchs, Hebron: Traditional burial place of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebeccah, Jacob and Leah and second holiest site in Judaism.
- Rachel's Tomb, Bethlehem: Traditional burial place of biblical matriach Rachel and third holiest site in Judaism.
.... in 1615 Muhammad Pasha of Jerusalem repaired the structure and transferred exclusive ownership of the site to the Jews.... In 1788, walls were built to enclose the arches... to "hinder the Jews from going into it"........ An 1824 report described "a stone building, evidently of Turkish construction, which terminates at the top in a dome. Within this edifice is the tomb. It is a pile of stones covered with white plaster, about 10 feet long and nearly as high. The inner wall of the building and the sides of the tomb are covered with Hebrew names, inscribed by Jews" .... In 1830, the Ottomans gave legal recognition of the tomb being a Jewish holy site .... In 1841, [Moses] Montefiore purchased the site and obtained for the Jews the key of the tomb.... In the mid-1850s, the marauding Arab e-Ta'amreh tribe forced the Jews to furnish them with an annual £30 payment to prevent them from damaging the tomb.... In the 1880s, Conder observed Jewish graves adjacent to the tomb.... In 1912 the Ottoman Government permitted the Jews to repair the shrine itself, but not the antechamber.... In 1915 the structure had four walls...The dome..."is used by the Moslems for prayer; its holy character has hindered them from removing the Hebrew letters from its walls".... During [the British Mandate] period, both Jews and Muslims visited the site....It is reported that Jews and Muslims respected each other and accommodated each others' rituals...During the riots of 1929, violence hampered regular visits by Jews to the tomb. In the same year, the Waqf demanded control of the site........Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War till 1967, the site was controlled by Jordan and protected by the Islamic Waqf. On December 11, 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194 which called for free access to all the holy places in Israel and the remainder of the territory of the former Palestine Mandate of Great Britain.In April 1949, the Jerusalem Committee prepared a document for the UN Secretariat in order to establish the status of the different holy places in the area of the former British Mandate for Palestine. It noted that ownership of Rachel's Tomb was claimed by both Jews and Muslims. The Jews claimed possession by virtue of a 1615 firman granted by the Pasha of Jerusalem which gave them exclusive use of the site and that the building, which had fallen into decay, was entirely restored by Moses Montefiore in 1845; the keys were obtained by the Jews from the last Muslim guardian at this time........ The UN ruled that the "status quo"...apply to the site. In theory, free access was to be granted as stipulated in the 1949 Armistice Agreements, though Israelis, unable to enter Jordan, were prevented from visiting. Non-Israeli Jews, however, continued to visit the site. During this period the neighbouring Muslim cemetery was expanded, enveloping the immediate area surrounding the tomb....Following the Six Day War in 1967, Israel gained control of the West Bank [Judea and Samaria], which included the tomb. The tomb was placed under Israeli military administration........ Prime minister Levi Eshkol instructed that the tomb be included within the new expanded municipal borders of Jerusalem, but citing security concerns, Moshe Dayan decided not to include it within the territory that was annexed to Jerusalem....... Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement... September 28, 1995, placing Rachel's Tomb...under Israeli jurisdiction.... On December 1, 1995, Bethlehem, with the exception of the tomb enclave, passed under the full control of the Palestinian Authority. Jews could only reach it in bulletproof vehicles under military supervision. In early 1996 it was suspected that the Palestinians would carry out terrorist attacks at Rachel's Tomb. Fearing the tomb would be an easy target, Israel began an 18-month fortification of the site at a cost of $2m.... In response, Palestinians claimed that "the Tomb of Rachel was on Islamic land" and that the structure was in fact a mosque...At the end of September 1996, Arab riots broke out in Jerusalem .... hundreds of [Arab Muslims] ... attacked Rachel's Tomb. They set the scaffolding which had been erected around it on fire and tried to break in. The IDF dispersed the mob with gunfire and stun grenades.... the Israeli-controlled site became a flashpoint between young Palestinian rioters... and IDF troops...... at the end of 2000 when the second intifada broke out. For forty-one days the tomb was attacked with gunfire. Fatah operatives and members of the Palestinian security services who were responsible for keeping order, not only failed to prevent the violence, they actively participated in it. Other religious sites in the area were attacked as well, including Joseph's Tomb in Nablus which was set ablaze and desecrated.... In March 2002 the IDF returned to Bethlehem as paf Operation Defensive Shield and remained there for an extended period of time....The Israeli government decided in September 2002,that the tomb would be enclosed on the Israeli side of the [security] barrier....In 2003 the Rachel's Tomb Institute was founded. It provides a number of bullet-proof buses which travel each day to the tomb. The Israeli public-transportation system also runs a service to the area and approximately 4,000 people visit the tomb each month.In February 2005, the Israel Supreme Court rejected a Palestinian appeal to change the path of the security fence in the region of the tomb.... Israel also declared the area to be a part of Jerusalem...
.... In February 2010, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that tomb, as well as the Cave of the Patriarchs, would become a part of the national Jewish heritage sites rehabilitation plan. The announcement sparked protests from the UN, Palestinian officials, Arab governments and the United States.... the executive board of UNESCO voted on October 21, 2010 to include the tomb as a World Heritage Site and called upon the Israeli government to desist from attempting to unilaterally incorporate the site into Israel. They "reaffirmed" that the site in Bethlehem forms "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian Territories and that any unilateral action by the Israeli authorities is to be considered a violation of international law, the UNESCO Conventions and the United Nations and Security Council resolutions."Remarks made by the Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO were expunged from the record by the chairman of the session [and] UNESCO's decision to refer to the tomb as "Bilal ibn Rabah Mosque" was condemned by the Israeli government....The Israeli Prime Minister's Office criticised the resolution claiming that: "the attempt to detach the Nation of Israel from its heritage is absurd... If the nearly 4,000-year-old burial sites of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish Nation - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah – are not part of its culture and tradition, then what is a national cultural site?”