My friend Moshe and Abed from Hebron

Hebron-Past, Present and Forever
by David Wilder
My friend Moshe and Abed from Hebron
August 30, 1996

On Wednesday evening I was, with hundreds of others, celebrating the marriage 
of Yaffa Bleicher, daughter of Yeshivat Shavei Hebron's Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Moshe  Bleicher.  The chuppa took place in front of Ma'arat HaMachpela.  The courtyard 
was filled with, in my estimation, well over one thousand people.  The Chatan, 
Yonatan, and the Kallah, Yaffa, seem to be an ideal young couple, and they 
looked beautiful, as the wedding blessings were recited in the field of 
Machpela, in Hebron.

Later, following the ceremony, we all walked to the Yeshiva.  Yeshivat Shavei 
Hebron is located in Beit Romano, a building over a hundred years old.  
The structure, in the past, housed the "Sde Hemed" a renowned Talmudic scholar, 
and early this century was home to Yeshivat Torat Emet of Habad.  In 1917 the 
British claimed the building and used it as a police station.  Those murdered 
and injured in the 1929 massacre were taken here on that fateful Saturday. The 
present Yeshiva has been located in the building since the early 1980's.

While sitting at the festive outdoors meal, a nearby friend passed on the 
information: "A 160 bus, from Jerusalem to Kiryat Arba - Hebron was just shot 
at. One person was injured."  It took a while to receive confirmation and 
clarification.  On the new Bethlehem bypass road, supposedly 'secure', 
terrorists opened up with automatic weapons and hit the bus. It isn't clear 
exactly how many bullets hit the bus - between 15 to 30.  Fortunately, we now 
travel in buses that have been mostly bulletproofed.  This is the reason no 
one was seriously injured.  I say 'mostly' because there are several parts of 
the bus which are not bullet proof.  I won't elaborate for obvious reasons, 
except to say that at least one bullet passed though a 'non-bullet proofed' 
window, and miraculously, didn't hit anyone.  The bus was full and there were 
people standing.  According to people on the bus, if it had not been bullet 
proofed, much blood would have been spilled.

One of the people on the bus was a good friend of mine, Moshe Shachar. Moshe, 
his wife Efrat, and their children have lived in Kiryat Arba for a number of 
years.  Moshe, aged 54, a math whiz and a computer genious, used to work for 
Bezek and is presently employed by E.C.I., a private electronics firm in Petach 
Tikvah.  He travels back and forth from Petach Tikva several times a week. I 
visited with Moshe a little while ago.  The following is what he related to me:
" I attended an all-day meeting - nine hours.  So when I was on the bus I 
didn't have energy to do anything.  I was dozing and leaning against the 
window.  Suddenly I heard automatic gunfire.  It lasted for, maybe, three 
seconds.  In the middle of it I realized it was gunfire and not rocks.  I was 
leaning against the window.  Exactly were my  arm was, a bullet hit.  (Showing 
me the picture in the newspaper), Here is where one bullet hit.  If the windows 
weren't bulletproofed I would have been hit. And here above that bullet, is 
where another one hit the glass. (That bullet hole was opposite his head.) I 
was wounded in my leg.  A bullet hit the side of the bus and must have 
exploded.  Either fragments of the bullet or pieces of the bus hit my leg. I 
wasn't badly hurt.  They took me to the hospital from Gush Etzion, washed the 
leg and gave me antibiotics.  The pieces of metal will remain in my leg.  I 
have to take it easy for a couple of weeks, but all-in-all, I'm O.K.  (I 
remarked that now, every time he enters Ma'arat HaMachpela, the metal-detector 
will be activated. We laugh together.) What now?  Very simple.  As soon as the 
doctor says it's ok, I'll continue going to work, the same way I always have.  
What should we do now? Build a new settlement where the attack took place. We 
have to strengthen our hold on Eretz Yisrael.  The terrorists cannot be allowed 
to control our lives."
That is my friend Moshe.

Earlier that day, I spent an hour with a photographer in Hebron.  While we were 
wondering around, an Arab named Abed stopped me on the street, across from Beit Romano. He 
told me, in Hebrew, the following.  (I translated to English for the 
photographer.)
'I prefer the Israeli army in Hebron to Arafat.  Arafat's people arrest Arabs, 
jail them, torture them, and then kill them.  The Israeli soldiers arrest 
Arabs and question them, but don't torture or kill them.  We've seen this in 
other cities where Arafat rules.  Do a lot of Hebron Arabs think this?  Yes. And 
you should know, I agree that Jews should live in Hebron.  My grandmother used 
to tell me stories that Jews lived on this land, five hundred - seven hundred 
years ago.  This is Jewish land.  The Arabs stole it from them after the 
massacre.' 
Quote- Unquote - Abed from Hebron 

Some Good News - But Where Is It Leading

Some Good News - But Where Is It Leading
August 9, 1996

This morning I received some very good news.  My friend David Shirel, long-time
resident of Tel Rumedia, who has been confined to his neighborhood for the last
9 months by an administrative order, will be free as of midnight tonight.  His
present administrative order expires today and yesterday he was informed that it
will not be extended, at least not for the time being.  Tomorrow David will be
able to legally pray in a minion at Ma'arat HaMachpela for the first time in
NINE MONTHS.  He will be able to leave his home at Tel Rumeida without fear of
being arrested and imprisoned for disobeying a military administrative house
arrest order.  
     This really is good news.  But the good news is only partial.  Yesterday,
     when David
Shirel was notified of his impending freedom by people whose identity I am not
at liberty to reveal, it was extremely apparent that they had no evidence of any
wrongdoing on his part.  In other words, he was held under house arrest for
three-quarters of a year without being charged of any crime, without being
indicted, tried or convicted - and without the `authorities' having any reason
for this incarceration.  In spite of this, he was held, and yesterday `warned'
not to participate in any illegal activities, `or else....'.
     David's neighbor, Baruch Marzel, is still restricted to Tel Rumeida by a
     similar order.  He
won't be free tomorrow.  His present administrative order will not expire for
another two months. His appeal to a military court against the order was
rejected. He appealed to General Uzi Dayan for a permit to leave Tel Rumeida for
a few hours in order to be interviewed for a position allowing him to work from
his home.  The request was denied. Last week his son asked why they never went
to pray in Ma'arat HaMachpela.  Baruch requested permission to pray, at least on
Shabbat, in the Ma'ara.  The request was denied. 
     PRESENTLY, SOME 35 ISRAELIS ARE BEING RESTRICTED BY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS.
     So, what's with Bibi Netanyahu?  After all, most of these orders go through
     Israeli
intelligence services, which are directly responsible to the Prime Minister
himself.  Here is my analysis of the situation: Either Bibi is unaware of what
is going on (which in unlikely), or the intelligence officers are lying to him
(which is much more likely.)  Being that he doesn't have time to check out
everything he is told, he is relying on the information presented to him.
     Doesn't he realize that Israeli intelligence is a branch of the `far-left?'
      That too is a good
question that is very difficult to answer.  On the one hand, he has to give some
backing to the existing parties.  But, and this is a VERY BIG BUT, he also has
to understand that he was elected in order to weed these people out, and change
the system.  These people are poisoning Israel, contaminating democracy, and
destroying any remaining faith in the term justice.  Bibi's allegiance is not to
the head of the Israeli intelligence services, or the Chief of Staff, or the
Attorney General. His allegiance has to be to the people of Israel, who look to
him to initiate the changes necessary to rebuild Israel, and to stop the
Bolshevik processes instituted by the previous government.  That is why we
elected him.  And Bibi must know that if he doesn't do what he was elected to
do, we will not refrain from pressuring him and demonstrating against him the
same way that we did against Rabin and Peres.  That is not what we want to do,
but if there is no choice, we will not hold back.
     David Shirel was approached by some friends who wanted to hold a big
     Kiddush
tomorrow morning in celebration of his release.  He refused.  He told them, when
everyone is freed, Baruch Marzel and all the others, then we will all celebrate
together.  Until then, we have to continue to work."  Let's hope that Bibi
understands what he has to do and that he does it, without fear and without
hesitation, very very soon.