There is something profoundly strange about watching the world debate whether Jews belong in Hebron and Jerusalem as though Jewish history in these cities began sometime in the twentieth century.

Long before the modern State of Israel existed, long before the British Mandate, long before modern Palestinian nationalism, and centuries before Islam itself existed, Jerusalem and Hebron were embedded in Jewish history, religion, memory and national identity.

You can debate borders. You can debate governments. You can criticize Israeli policies. You can argue about security arrangements and political agreements. What you cannot honestly do is erase thousands of years of Jewish history simply because that history has become politically inconvenient.

Hebron is one of the clearest examples.

The Hebrew Bible identifies Hebron with Abraham and the purchase of the Cave of Machpelah as a family burial place. It later describes Hebron as the place where David ruled before establishing Jerusalem as his capital. Archaeological evidence also demonstrates ancient Jewish life in the area during later periods.

Jewish attachment to Hebron therefore did not suddenly appear in 1967.

Neither did Jewish residence there.

Jewish communities existed in Hebron during different periods under successive rulers, including Muslim and Ottoman rule. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there was an established Jewish community with synagogues, religious institutions and property.

This date destroys one of the most convenient narratives surrounding Hebron because it occurred nineteen years before Israel’s independence and thirty eight years before 1967.

During the Hebron massacre, 67 Jews were murdered and the ancient Jewish community was shattered. Some Arab neighbors courageously protected Jews, something that should also be remembered because history deserves honesty even when honesty complicates our arguments. Survivors were evacuated by the British. Jewish families attempted to return afterward, but the renewed community did not survive the escalating violence of the 1930s.

So when someone presents every Jew living in Hebron today as a foreigner who suddenly appeared after 1967, ask a very simple question.

Where did the Jews........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)