Part II: AFSI And "Settlers" Are Brothers
A tour of all the pioneering and idealistic places in the Holy Land.
From Fern Sidman
For Part I, click here.
Continuing his tour into the heart of the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, Mr. Luria guided the AFSI contingent in to Beit Wittenberg, now owned by Ateret Cohanim.
Originally puchased by Moshe Wittenberg in the 1880s in a deal brokered by Eliezer Ben Yehuda (the father of the modern Hebrew language), it was discovered that the building was once the famous Mediterreanean Hotel where Mark Twain stayed in Jerusalem when he visited in 1867.
"One hundred years after this property was purchased by the Wittenberg family, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon bought it in the 1980s. Because he thought it was important for Jews to be able to live anywhere in Jerusalem, he made his residence here," said Mr. Luria.
After leading the AFSI group beneath the walls of the Old City, on a tour of King Zedekiah's cave, located between the Damascus and Herod gates, Mr. Luria then took the group to the Mount of Olives, Har HaZeitim, where he was joined by Jeff Dauby, former AFSI board member and current Jerusalem representative of the Zionist Organization of America.
Showing the tour participants the rampant Arab desecration of Jewish graves there, Mr. Luria said, "This 3000 year-old cemetery, where great rabbis and leaders are buried had been tranformed in to a garbage dump by the Arabs between 1949 and 1967, now they stoned visitors, firebomb cars, lead goat herds through it, as well as running donkey races. Anywhere between 40,000 and 60,000 Jewish graves have been destroyed by the Arabs."
Answering the call for a Jewish presence in the area, Ateret Cohanim, (with the generous financial assistance of renowned Jewish philanthropist Irving Moskowitz), built Ma'ale HaZeitim, the Jewish neighborhood near the Mount of Olives.
"Jerusalem is our home; and if the Jewish people are the rightful owners of this holy city, we must unabashedly and unequivocally possess this land and behave as owners," said Mr. Luria.
From there, AFSI members celebrated Yom Ha'Atzmaut in grand style with at the nascent Netzer settlement in the Gush Etzion bloc. Amid dancing to tradtional Israeli music, Women In Green leader, Nadia Matar, welcomed Helen Freedman and the AFSI participants and expressed her gratitude to them for their continued support.
"We cannot thank AFSI enough for their unwavering loyalty and great assistance. Every time they come to Israel, they visit with us; always offering to help in any way they can and for that we are very appreciative," said Ms. Matar.
AFSI members were treated to a most pleasant surprise when during the celebration at Netzer, they had the opportunity to meet with former Soviet refuseniks, Yosef Begun and Professor Dov Rogansky of Hebrew University.
"I am thrilled to see these wonderful Jewish activists here at Netzer and among them are many who championed the cause of my freedom and the freedom of countless other Jews from the former Soviet Union", said Mr. Begun.
No AFSI trip to Israel would be complete without a visit with their friend, Aryeh King, of the Israel Land Fund. Meeting him in Beit Hanina, in the northern part of East Jerusalem, AFSI members listened intently as Mr. King explained the dilemma he finds himself in as he attempts to reclaim land belonging to Jews that have been illegally occupied by Arab squatters for decades.
"The area we are standing in belongs to Jews and that has been proven by the court. Even its name, Beit Hanina has Jewish origins as it was named after Hanina Ben Dosa. Before 1948, these homes belonged to Jews. When the JNF sold property bought with Jewish donations to Hebrew University, they then sold it to Arabs for rock bottom prices," Mr. King said ruefully.
He added that, "We offered to buy the land from Hebrew University but they declined our offer because they were afraid that their donors would no longer contribute to them if it was discovered that they sold property to "right-wing Jews" in Israel. It is Mr. King's objective to build a new Jewish community in Beit Hanina which will be called Nof Shmuel, after the Tomb of Shmuel Hanavi, which is visible from the new properties to the west.
As they headed for Tiberias to spend Shabbat, AFSI members made stops to Dalyat at Carmel/Usfiye where they visited with Druze MK Ayoub Kara who presented an informative and colorful tour of the village. Stopping at the Yad L'Banim memorial to the fallen Druze soldiers, MK Kara said, "We Druze are proud to have served in the Israeli army and we are proud to be part of this great history."
Since securing a Jewish presence throughout the land of Israel is a main priority for AFSI, they then visited with both Aharon Pulver of the Israel Independence Fund (IIF) and Mayor Shimon Gafsou of Nazareth Illit. During an slide presentation of the city, Mr. Gafsou explained that Jewish homes were purchased by Arabs with cash provided to them by petroleum rich Arab countries.
"We are now buying back our original properties from Arabs and we do not tolerate illegal Arab building which is a pervasive phenomenon throughout Israel. Right now, we are offering 3-bedroom apartments for as low as $120,000. We are encouraging Jews to come back to both the lower and upper Galilee region, where they once represented the majority."
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