Israel Matzav

Israel abandoning Har HaZeitim (Mount of Olives)?

Giulio Meotti reports on the lack of security at the Mount of Olives cemetery.

But Israeli authorities share a large responsibility, since fences, surveillance and cameras have been never installed. Many people fear going there.

At police request, there were Jewish families who did not accompany their deceased loved ones for burial because the police feared rock throwers or worse. The family waited at home for a call alerting them that the body was interned and it was okay to begin the shiva period of mourning. It happened that Jews had to abandon the corpse on the ground, while they all scattered away under terror attacks. They called the police and couldn’t return until policemen came to secure the area that is synonymous with the holiness of Jerusalem.

Armored vans have been used to reach the site. Mourners have had to be hospitalized after attacks. A US Congressman and Malcolm Hoenlein of the American Conference of Presidents were pelted by rocks there. There is no one to take care of the old and ancient graves. Tombstones, many of them centuries old, disappear or disintegrate.

We’re not talking about the Gaza Strip. We’re talking about the most holy Jewish cemetery, overlooking the Temple Mount. Is that area to become “Judenrein” like Joseph’s Tomb? If Israel is abdicating the Mount of Olives, then she is abdicating Jerusalem.

Israel is literally entombed in that history. Since the Mount of Olives is the resting place for prophets, writers, rabbis, prime ministers and simple Jews murdered in the riots and buried in mass graves, it should be the pride of Israel and not one of its forgotten backyards.

As you might recall, I was at the Mount of Olives two weeks ago. The biggest problem is that you cannot gain access to the areas where the more recent graves are located without going through Arab neighborhoods. And you find yourself sitting ducks sitting in traffic there. The cemetery itself is less unsafe, particularly in groups.

But he's right. Don't hold your breaths waiting for the government to do something.

Labels: Mount of Olives

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:20 PM