Israel is a place of political and religious ambiguity. I took a trip to Hebron yesterday to see the Cave of the Patriarchs. That's where, according to longstanding tradition, the Cave of Machpelah is located where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah are buried. Hebron is in the West Bank. The top picture shows the cenotaphs of Isaac and Rebekah. For centuries the Cave of the Patriarchs has been located under a large mosque built on Herodian and Byzantine remains from much earlier periods. In 1994, a religious orthodox Jewish zealot entered the mosque there, shot up the place and killed 29 people, and injured 125 others. He was beat to death by the crowd who were praying in the mosque. The mosque was closed for almost a year and when it opened, the building had been divided into two sections: a synagogue and a mosque. So Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah are on the mosque side, and Jacob and Leah are on the synagogue side. There are two separate entrances and parts of the Old City are completely closed, while other parts are cordoned off into Arab and Jewish sections. There are about 350 Jewish settlers, mainly from Brooklyn, NY, who live there among an Arab population of about 350,000. This mural demonstrates the tensions. I'm not positive but it looks like it originally said, "Free Palestine," and that has been painted over and on the dove it says, "Free Israel." I think it was Mark Twain who called this place a literally disillusioning place of unkempt, faith-based absurdity.
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