This article first brought Sheikh el Jabri to my attention: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3505153,00.html Very interesting overall, but it was this article in the weekly newspaper Mispacha that truly piqued my interest. Opinions are welcome, not just on the article but on the translation from Hebrew - which took me quite some time. If Someone Dares to Touch Your Synagugue…” / Aharon Granot “Look around you,” said Sheikh Fareed Khader el Jabri after lifting me out of the armchair I sank into, leading me towards one of the windows of his magnificent house, and pointing outside. “You see the houses and their surroundings? All of them are inhabited by my family and my men, several thousands of them are equipped with weapons and I am their operator. If I tell them “fire” they use their guns immediately and without hesitation. If someone even thinks about going near your synagogue to destroy it, I will tell my men “fire” and they will shoot him. I will make sure that the mere thought of hurting a hair on the head of a Jew living in Hebron will not cross the thought of any Hebron resident.” To be frank, I was shaking with fear – I was staying in the heart of Arab Hebron, far from the roadblocks of the IDF. Only ten minutes from my own home, so close and yet so very far. If they decide to kidnap me, no one will ever find me again. An utterance of the Sheikh to one of the men in the house was enough for them to open fire at me. The Sheikh noticed my frightened expression and placed both hands on my shoulders, “I, ya ibani (trans: my son. Used as an affectionate nickname to young friends), hate when an injustice is done to someone. If someone does injustice, I kill him without a second thought. There is no reason that the Jews living in Hebron should be unable to live here safely, I see the Jewish children – how they fear terrorist attacks, much like my grandchildren and great-grandchildren fear the army. There is no reason for my children to fear the army and there is no reason for your children to fear terrorist attacks, I want them to walk here freely and that is why I initiated these meetings with the heads of the Community (note: reference to the Jewish community of Hebron), we must make an end to this war.” An hour earlier, a fancy white Mercedes car stopped slowly near an IDF roadblock separating the part under Israeli control and the one under Palestinian control. Two “types” you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley came out of the car and invited us in. A spitting distance from my residence in Kiryat-Arba, less than a ten minutes’ drive and we’re in a different world, a different country. There is no government and no control in it, no rules and no order. In this place only one rules, and mentioning his name is enough to wreak awe and fear on the Arabs in the area. Meet Sheikh Fareed el Jabri, who follows the path, and is the heir of Sheikh Mohammad el Jabri – the legendary mayor of Hebron. All the region’s Arabs follow him. He has a private army of 5,000 loyal armed men. No one would dare raise his hand or foot without first getting the Sheikh’s permission. The Arabs of Hebron did not believe that I managed to interview him, and were only convinced by the pictures that Uriah Tedmor took to immortalize the meeting. A powerful man is Sheikh el Jabri, Arab acquaintances from Hebron told me. One time, the Palestinian police accidently shot one of his men. The response was not late in coming. El Jabri’s men raided the Palestinian military government building, imprisoned all the Palestinian policemen in it, and threatened to murder them. Eventually the Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was forced to call the Sheikh and placate him. His fortune is measured in millions of dinars. From ’71 to ’94 El Jabri stayed in Saudi Arabia, where he made most of his fortune from real-estate deals and construction. Only in ’94 did his family ask him to return to Hebron and lead the huge Hamoula, that was led by a ‘Council of Elders’ until his arrival. Once he assumed the seat of leadership, the great family returned once more to its former status. After ten minutes of driving among the twisting and neglected alleyways of that part of Hebron that was under Palestinian governance, over cracked roads where Palestinians lead smelly donkeys carrying flour bags, we stopped at the entrance of a large house, its shape indicating a powerful owner. Two tough sentries stood at the entrance, but their faces softened at the sight of us. It’s not every day that Jews are seen here, least of all Haredim (trans: ultra-Orthodox Jews). They knew who we were and that the Sheikh was indeed expecting us. It’s hard to believe that among the meager houses that we’d seen such a palace exists, but once we entered the large house, we discovered a magnificent palace. Our eyes gaped in awe once we were brought into the diwan – the Sheikh’s guest hall. Fancy and expensive Persian rugs were spread over the flooring if the large room. Over them, remarkable armchairs upholstered in het and shesh (trans: I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t the foggiest) and by them little tables of expensive Hebronite marble. Priceless gold-plated chandeliers descended from the curved and shaped ceiling. In the center of the guest hall – pictures of the Sheikh’s ancestors. “You will be my messengers of peace,” he told us when he received us. He, Sheikh Fareed Khader el Jabri, was fed up with the situation in Hebron. He was fed up with the closed street that led to the “Hazon David” synagogue and he was fed up with the war. The Sheikh has an exact list of the damages that the Intifada caused the Arabs in Hebron. 1,800 closed businesses, 1,284 families that have left their homes and Hebron, 517 days of curfew to which the Arabs were subjected to. He fed up with it all. “At the beginning of the Intifada, people had no food,” tells the Sheikh. “Everyone called me. We set up a kind of situation room. People expected that we’d do something. My hands were tied. We passed food through the roofs, from rooftop to rooftop, and I’m not talking about delicacies, I’m talking about milk for the children. Nothing like this can happen again.” He was also fed up with the “peace movements” messengers, and particularly anarchists. “ They come here to stir up war, wanting to forcibly arouse conflicts between the Jews and Arabs and wreak destruction and ruin,” said the Sheikh. The highlight was when the anarchists came to the Sheikh with a plot in their hearts – to take work tools from the Arabs and destroy the “Hazon David” synagogue, founded by the residents of Kiriat-Arba in 2003 in memory of David Cohen and Yehezkel Mu’alem who were murdered at the spot. The place is defined as an illegal outpost by the government [of Israel] even though it is a synagogue. Dozens of times the ‘outpost’ was cleared out, but the residents [of Kiriat-Arba] reestablished it. The anarchists wanted to do what the government couldn’t manage to. They did not consider in their darkest nightmares that they would find in front of them Sheikh el Jabri himself, shocked with the idea that someone would want to destroy a synagogue. “A place where the name of the Almighty is exalted is a sacred place, and we will never help destroy it,” the Sheikh told the anarchists, “and if you, Jews, are capable of doing such to your own people, you are not wanted among us. Go from here, and the first who will come close to Hebron again – will be slaughtered.” The anarchists don’t go near Hebron since. The “Hazon David” synagogue remained standing as the Sheikh placed his protection over it. The government’s decision to destroy the synagogue exists, but until today it wasn’t carried out not for fear of Jews, but for fear of Arabs. The next story shows the extent of Sheikh Fareed Hader el Jabri’s control in Arab Hebron. A Christian institution called “Mlonyte” operates in the city, and is treating crippled and sick children. A rumor spread among the Muslims that the institution works to make the children Christians. The rumor reached the radical Hizbat el Tahrih (Party of Liberation) party. The leaders of the party demanded that the people heading the institution should pack their bags and leave. The parents of the children did not know what to do with their sorrow, where would their children turn to now? They came to Sheikh el Jabri and asked for his protection. The Sheikh sought the facts of the case, and concluded that the rumor was false. The day on which the Party of Liberation threatened that if the people of the institution did not leave – they would come and drive them out by force. Downstairs, in the courtyard, the men of the Party were prepared and armed. Terrible tension prevailed throughout the city. Suddenly, Sheikh el Jabri reached the place and informed the ‘El Tahrih’ men: “I have placed my protection over this institution, you have five minutes to clear out of this place before you become a pile of wreckage,” he said, and added no further. Five minutes later not a single of the ‘El Tahrih’ remained – they had turned back and left the place in fear. “If I did thus for an institution of Christian heretics, would I not do thus for an institution of Jewish believers that aren’t heretics by Islam, would I not give my protection to a synagogue?” asks the Sheikh. The Jewish community in Hebron heard, saw and was glad. Last week a historic meeting took place between Sheikh El Jabri and the leaders of the community: the head of the Kiriat-Arba municipal council Tzvi Ktzover, the head of the Jewish community in Hebron Noam Arnon, attorney Eliakim Ha’atzni – another of the community leaders, and his son Boaz. The leaders of the community gave Sheikh El Jabri a Document of Appreciation. Sheikh Jabri gave a warm address on peace, the deep desire of all the city’s inhabitants. He related about how, in the severe events of the Intifada, he cried at the sights of the terrorist attacks, and turned to the Jews there and declared – “We do not see you as ‘settlers’ but as residents. The city is ours as much as yours.” The Sheikh tells me that “In the terrorist attack that occurred on Yaffo Street, I saw a mother being taken with one son to the ‘Bikur Holim’ hospital, and lost contact with her second son. She looked for him and eventually the media found the second son in the ‘She’arei Tsedek’ hospital and connected the two. The mother cried, the children cried, and I too sat and cried.” The meeting between the Sheikh and the leaders of the [Jewish] community in Hebron aroused a storm in the city. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigates, that are seen as more radical than Hamas in the city, published an announcement in which they called to mercilessly cut off the head that met with the Jews. “The names of all the meeting participants are written in our possession,” it said. “We will strike with an iron fist all the collaborators who sold the blood of the martyrs for a handful of dollars.” The threat in the announcement was directed openly at Sheikh Abu-Khader Jabri and called him “A traitor and Zionist agent.” Following that, the sons of the Sheikh – who belong to one of the most powerful Hamoulas in Hebron – announced that if the announcement was not cancelled within 24 hours, they would declare war on the Al-Aqusa Martyrs’ Brigates. At 4 in the morning, an unknown man dropped another announcement under the door of the Sheikh’s house, signed in two official seals of the organization and containing a message saying that the previous announcement was a fake and had nothing to do with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. The leaders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades reproached the publishers of the [first] announcement and asked for the forgiveness and pardons of the Sheikh. This shows just how omnipotent a ruler the Sheikh is in Hebron and how feared his might and ability is in the city. And we stand in front of the Sheikh and try to understand what his interest is in defending the Jews and the synagogue with such fervor, and what caused him to threaten to murder the anarchists that we, the Jews, should have fought, and instead Sheikh Jabri is the one to drive them out of the city. Sheikh Jabri himself doesn’t hide the interest: “For us the anarchists are also a disaster and enemy,” he tells me, “you know what would have happened had the anarchists destroyed the synagogue, and particularly with our encouragement, the pressure in the city would have increased several-fold. There would have been actual blood-letting, and that is besides the fact I mentioned previously – that Islam forbids to destroy a place where the name of the Almighty is mentioned. Anyone who would want to destroy the Jewish synagogue located on our sovereign territory, will find himself fighting us.” Are you sure that the Jews in Hebron also think of you in this manner? “I know the Jews of Hebron. Most of them are good and peaceful people. If we remove the barriers between us, if there is no tension – we will find out how we can be good neighbors.” To hear the unbelievable. Like we were good neighbors in 1929… in the living room of your own house hangs the picture of Mohammad el Jabri who has a lot of Jewish blood on his hands from those events… Jabri doesn’t avoid any question, though it is unclear if the answers are true: “The events of 1929 were a plot of the British aimed to spark a conflict between the Jews and Arabs in the country, they did this across the land to extend their mandate and so that neither us nor you could found a country in the place of their governance. They incited a small and felonious group in Hebron and those inflamed all of Hebron. The events of 1929 also saw many cases of Jews being saved by Muslims. I was witness to the fact that during the conquering of Hebron by the IDF [in 1967], one of the soldiers ran up to me and embraced me. It was the son of Ya’akov Ezra, one of the leaders of the ancient Jewish community in Hebron, I remember him as a child. “The British wanted to create a conflict between the Jews and the Arabs and this, by the way, is what the anarchists we drove out here wanted to do, to inflame relations between Jews and Arabs and to stoke it, but I will not let them do this. We raised four generations of hatred, we must put a stop to this. You must know that from time immemorial the Anti-Semitism and hatred towards the Jews erupted mainly in the countries of Europe. It was actually in the Arab states that there was usually a good relationship between the Jews and Arabs.” In the opinion of Fareed el Jabri, after he made the first step and prevented the destruction of the synagogue, the Jews must now make the second step. “You see the street outside the window?” The Sheikh points towards the street, “this is the street that is closed to our vehicles since the synagogue opened. There is no street in the whole world that is closed to vehicle entry and that movement through it is only on donkeys. This closure is suffocating us. Even ambulances can’t go through there. You closed that street because of the fear of our terrorism. I now expect from the your public leaders that they would act to open that street, this is the first trust-building step. I have said it to the head of the the head of the Kiriat-Arba municipal council, Tzvi Ktzover, in the meeting that was held here in my house last week. The entire Muslim public in Hebron is waiting now to see results. If there are results, my people will also change their attitude towards the Jews and we will be good neighbors.” Is it the paces of peace we have just heard, will reality of life indeed dictate good neighborly relations between the Arabs and the Jews – or is it another act of the Arabs, who would later exploit the trust for another massacre? Times will tell.
God's peace on the sheik, I can only hope his approach does work. If the Arabs and the Jews can make a true peace in Israel maybe the whole world can be changed to a place of peace.
The Sheikh's influence ends outside Hebron - he's a local leader, not a regional one. I have a very dim view of the regional political leaders though, and I hope that more local leaders will follow Sheikh el Jabri's path. But regardless, the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not change much worldwide. There are dozens of bigger conflicts in the Middle-East, and hundreds more worldwide that claim far more victims, have a much larger impact, and that get about a thousandth of the attention. The end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will, at most, mark the end of the regional distraction game. And hopefully will change about ten million lives for the better. It will not mark the end of all the other issues of the area.
It would be a good start though, The Holy land means a lot you know. I don't think it is all so easy as one sheik taking a chance on bucking the trend, but if one powerful man can make a difference in his sphere of influence it is a precedent that can allow the possibility of someone else taking a similar stance. i just don't like being pessimistic all the time, I have been getting my nose rubbed in bad news lately.
If this Sheikh means what he says, then God bless him for being a good man - even if he turns out to be not nearly as powerful as the article portrays him to be. However, it worries me that the Palestinian police can so easily be taken hostage... How is Israel supposed to negotiate with a political entity that's apparently at the mercy of some random rich guy with an army?
Mowgli, Israelis have been wondering about that a great deal lately. The answer is that we will stick with negotiating with the idiots we know, because the UN used to think that Arafat and the PLO are cool. Oh, and because our politicians like photo-ops as much as the next man. And if it means we get an(other) agreement that only one side is capable of implementing, well then... Tough luck, eh?
