A Field of Life

We had sat down to our weekly Shabbat evening meal when, at about seven o?clock, heavy gunfire could be heard, not too far outside of Hebron. I ran downstairs to see what was happening and saw some of our emergency medics flying down the road in our ambulance and other vehicles. One of my friends, panting, managed to tell me that the gunfire originated somewhere near Kiryat Arba and that injuries were reported. That was as much as I knew for the next couple of hours.

Later on word started filtering back. The terror attack occurred outside Kiryat Arba, near the south gate. People had been killed. Slowly we started hearing numbers. They varied, but were somewhere near ten or eleven. Ten or eleven dead.

Then a little bit later, some of the Hebron emergency crew returned, pale, tired and very upset. The news they brought us was tragic. Colonel Dror Weinberg, the thirty-eight year old father of five, commander of the Hebron brigade, was among those ambushed, shot and killed. Not too long after that we received word that three men from nearby Kiryat Arba had also been murdered, including the town?s security officer, Yitzhak Buanish.

The next morning we found out that a total of 12 people were dead and another fourteen wounded, some critically. Nine soldiers, officers and border police and three men from the Kiryat Arba emergency squad. All cut down by two Arab terrorists, who successfully ambushed them in an alley, just outside Kiryat Arba.

Yesterday was spent going from funeral to funeral. Beginning in Kiryat Arba, three coffins, one next to another. Alex Duchan, father of four, who came to Israel from France. Alex Tzvitman, from the Soviet Union, father of a five year old son. And Yitzhak Buanish, head of Kiryat Arba security, who celebrated the marriage of his oldest daughter just two weeks ago, father of seven. The funeral procession left for Jerusalem, where thousands waited at the Har HaMenuchot cemetery, paying respects to these three men who left their Shabbat tables to try and aid Israeli soldiers wounded by the terrorist gunfire, never to return.

We left Jerusalem for Kfar Saba to attend the funeral of Colonel Dror Weinberg, commander of the Hebron Brigade. I first met Dror over 20 years ago, when he was in twelfth grade. He then participated in initiating a new yeshiva in Ophira, better known as Sharm el-Sheikh, on the southern tip of Israel. At that time, Israel was withdrawing from Ophira and all other cities in Sinai as part of the Egypt-Israel peace accords, and the new yeshiva was started as part of a protest against the planned evacuation. I remember Dror then as a quiet and intense individual, characteristics that would lead him to a distinguished career in the Israel Defense Forces.

Dror Weinberg, having served in elite army units, took upon himself a most difficult task as commander of the Hebron region. But he did a magnificent job. He was totally fearless, and he dealt with the enemy in a way in which the enemy understood with whom they were dealing. He refused to acquiesce to Arab terror, successfully maintaining security in Hebron, at least as much as was permitted by his superiors. He worked together with the Hebron community leadership, was open to ideas and suggestions, and did what he thought was right, in any given circumstance. Opposing the planned pullout from the Arafat-controlled side of Hebron, Dror spoke with his superior officers, who agreed with him. When, despite his misgivings, the army did evacuate 80% of the city three weeks ago, he warned of planned terror attacks. On Friday, only hours before being killed, while meeting with security officers in the Hebron region, he again warned that a vacuum had been created on the other side of Hebron, that the Islamic Jihad was planning a major terror attack in the area, and that it would more than likely occur very soon. Little did he know how fatally correct he was.

In a couple of months time Colonel Dror Weinberg was to take command of the Paratrooper Division, a next step up in his illustrious career. Had he lived, he almost definitely would have become a full general, and might possibly have reached the top job, that of Chief of Staff. That?s how good he was. That?s how heavy a price we?ve paid.

At the funeral, Dror Weinberg was eulogized by the Israeli Chief Rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau, the Chief of Staff, Moshe ?Bugi? Ya?alon and the Minister of Defense, Shaul Mofaz, among others. He had requested, should anything happen to him, to be buried in Kfar Saba, where he grew up. Not far from his fresh grave lie two of Dror?s uncles, his mother?s brothers, who were killed days apart during the 1967 Six Day War. Dror?s wife Hadassah is five months pregnant with their sixth child, a child who will never have the privilege to meet his or her father. What a loss, what a tragedy.

In reaction to this catastrophe we have made a number of demands:

First and foremost, the Israeli armed forces must not only take total control of all of Hebron, but must also stay in the entire city, without any plans to ever again withdraw. Following the pullout three weeks ago, there were eleven terrorist incidents in and around Hebron, prior to Friday night?s murders. As long as the terrorists control Hebron, the terror will continue. At present, the army has moved back into all of Hebron, and they must stay there.

Secondly, the city must be cleaned up and all the terrorists either apprehended or eliminated. Anyone having anything to do with the Friday night massacre must be taken care of – the sooner the better.

Finally, we expect the government to allow a ?true Zionist response.? That is, construction of a new neighborhood, leading from Hebron to Kiryat Arba, along the same road where the attack took place. The terrorists must be forced to understand that they will never be able to accomplish their goal, which is, of course, the removal of Jews from Hebron, or from any other part of Eretz Yisrael. When they try and kill us, not only will we not leave, rather, on the contrary, we will bring in more people to live here. This is vital, and hopefully will receive the full approval of Ariel Sharon and the entire government.

At the moment there is a proposed plan, initiated by Sharon years ago, during negotiations of the original Hebron Accords, by which Hebron will be accorded full security via walls. That plan is again being tossed around and, just as we opposed it then, so we oppose it today. That arrangement calls for all of Hebron?s neighborhoods to be surrounded by walls, separating us from the Arabs around us. As I?ve written in the past, this is nothing less that a virtual ghettoization of Hebron. It is a truly repulsive idea for several reasons: A wall has never been known to provide security. It may act as a stumbling block, but is eventually overcome. Much more importantly, we did not come back to Eretz Yisrael, or to Hebron, to live in a ghetto. We left eastern Europe to get out of the ghetto and to live in Israel, as we sing in the national anthem HaTikva, ?lihiot am hofshi b?artzenu? ? ?to be a free people in our land.? And we certainly cannot be ?a free people in our land? if we are forced to live behind walls in a twenty-first century ghetto. We expect a continuous Israeli population from Hebron to Kiryat Arba, with full security, but definitely without walls. The suggested program, called the ?sharvul?, which literally means ?sleeve?, must be rejected. As a ?short sleeve?, i.e., in the short run, it might seem to be effective; however as a ?long sleeve?, it is not only worthless, it is damaging. If the Arabs see us living behind walls, thinking that they have managed to scare us into hiding from them, the terror will only increase.

As I wrote above, the events of the past weekend have left us numb. The losses, the pain and the frustration – frustration because the attacks were not inevitable, had anyone listened to us, and had the army stayed in Hebron. However, that is in the past. The hurt will stay with us for a long time to come, but that cannot prevent us from looking forward, from searching for ways to progress, thereby honoring the memories of those we have lost. None of those whom I personally knew, and I?m sure the others too, would have wanted us to stop and give up. They gave their lives for the zechut, the privilege, to live in Eretz Yisrael, for the privilege to live in Hebron. They made a supreme sacrifice, and the best and only way to commemorate them is to continue on the same path for which they lived and died. We must transform the field, adjacent to the site of their murder, from a field of death, to a field of life. Then, perhaps, they will lie in peace and we, too, will be able to be at peace with ourselves, knowing that we are fulfilling their will. May their memories be blessed, and may they be a blessing unto us, Amen.