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| The concrete walls that today secure ancient Rachel's Tomb [Image Source] |
Today's failed attack took place at the Rachel Crossing on the northern edge of Bethlehem. The ancient tomb of the Jewish matriarch Rachel used to be, 25 years ago when we last visited it, just an historical site on the road leading from Bethlehem to southern Jerusalem.
Then after a series of shooting attacks on Jewish worshipers, the simple tomb became a complex surrounded by thick, high walls and with secure stations for the IDF personnel who do guard duty there. It's a major attraction:
Judaism's third-holiest site, has been the scene of prayer and pilgrimage for more than three thousand years... Rachel, the beloved wife of the third Patriarch, Ya'acov (Jacob), died in childbirth on the way to Hebron returning to his family's home... She was buried on the road to Efrat -- now Bethlehem....
Ya'acov buried Rachel at this spot, rather than a the family burial plot at the Cave [Tomb] of the Patriarchs in Hebron, because he foresaw that his decedents would pass this site during the the forced exile to Babylon in the year 423 BCE [Source: RachelsTomb.org]
Why the IDF places security personnel there, day after day, was brought home again today:
Female terrorist arrested near Bethlehem | A female Arab terrorist aged 18, a resident of Bethlehem, arrived Thursday morning at the Rachel Crossing near the city, and threatened to attack policemen and soldiers stationed there. Border Police officers subdued the terrorist and found a knife in her bag. She was arrested and taken for questioning... [Israel National News, today]
The Jordanian version raises doubts:
Palestinian girl arrested for alleged stabbing attempt | Ramallah, March. 1 (Petra) -- Israeli occupation forces arrested an 18-year old Palestinian girl for allegedly trying to stab Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint north of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Radio Israel said on Thursday. The radio said that Israeli troops at the military checkpoint arrested a girl, whose identity wasn't disclosed, for allegedly attempting to attack Israeli soldiers with a knife. [Jordan News Agency/MENAFN, today]
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| Family and friends outside Rachel's Tomb in 1991 when access was directly from the Jerusalem/Bethlehem road. The massive security walls hadn't been constructed and weren't needed |
The scurrilous Ma'an/Palestinian Arab version is even more doubtful - but it's their standard pose:
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained an 18-year-old Palestinian girl for allegedly attempting to stab soldiers at Checkpoint 300 in northern Bethlehem city on Thursday, in the southern occupied West Bank. Israeli media reported that soldiers at the checkpoint detained a Palestinian teenage girl who was “carrying a knife and attempted to attack soldiers.” The girl was reportedly taken in for questioning. Though her identity remained unknown, the girl was reported to be a resident of Bethlehem city. Israeli forces have detained scores of Palestinians, many of the minors, for allegedly being in possession of knives following a spate of alleged and actual small-scale knife attacks by Palestinians that surged in the fall of 2015. [Ma'an News Agency, today]Depending on decisions to be taken by the IDF and the military prosecution, this young woman may qualify under the PA's Rewards for Terror scheme with monetary benefits flowing to her and her parents, so there's that.
4 comments:
As always, thank you for your patient and sustained (I don’t know how) efforts to document these painful truths.
I had no idea that Rachel’s Tomb is surrounded by such an ugly but unfortunately necessary concrete barrier. Just like the sad but necessary barrier wall that mars the beautiful hills of Judea and Samaria.
Maybe someday soon, in part through your work, the world will come to understand the unfettered and unwarranted hatred of Jews that is being intentionally inculcated in the hearts of so many young Arabs by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. An entire generation has now been poisoned. It will take decades to unwind this weaponization—there is no other way to describe it—of Arab society in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
It's nice to be given so much credit and in such a well-formed comment. Thank you! But we're certain you give us too much credit. Few if any haters of Israel pay attention to anything we write. Our goal has always been to speak to those who cherish Israel and hate what the Palestinian Arabs are doing to their own future and to ours.
We don't expect to do too much persuading. But we do want to help our friends think through some of these issues and never lose sight of how badly the other side are conducting their campaigns and their lives.
Sincere appreciation to you.
Got it. If the IDF says a Palestinian committed some act of violence -- or, more often, was planning on doing so, it is a fact. If anyone raises any doubts, they are anti-semites. How better to get to the truth. I am sure this comment will be branded 'abusive, offensive and racist." Must not upset the Groupthink.
So where, Ms. Anonymous, do you see people who raise doubts about acts of alleged terror, being labeled antisemites?
And on the other hand, what do you say to the likes of Ma'an News Agency whose every report about Arab-on-Israeli attacks that anyone can see are acts of terror are chronically described in their alternative reality as "alleged"?
Oh, and don't bother responding now or in the future under the name "Anonymous". We're making an exception this time.
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