For which sons does Rachel weep?
This week, I visited the Tomb of Rachel, the matriarch of the Jewish people, located at the entrance to Bethlehem. Rachel, who was Jacob’s wife and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, was the heroine of the biblical chapters read in recent weeks in synagogues across the world.
The exterior of her mausoleum has nothing to do with the pastoral paintings that have adorned the walls of Jewish homes throughout the world for centuries. The Oslo Accords and the second intifada have turned this site of pilgrimage into a concrete fortress, allowing Jewish worshipers a sort of relative security. Inside, near the presumed location of the tomb, there is an ancient stone plaque, engraved with a passage from the prophet Jeremiah:
“Thus said the Eternal, and a voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. Thus says the Lord: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work will be rewarded and they will return from the land of the enemy.’”
The Prophet Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem (in 586 BC) and refered to the Jews leaving the Holy Land for exile in Babylon. Long convoys passing by Rachel's Tomb inspired Jeremiah to pen these words, as inspiring as they are premonitious.
Not far from Rachel's Tomb is the Aida refugee camp, one of the many camps of misery in which Arab countries have left their "Palestinian brothers" after the wars of 1948 and 1967. At the entrance to the camp is a large gate topped with a huge bronze key. The key, which was donated by Germany, symbolizes the hope of return. But what is most interesting is the plate on the door which bears the following inscription: "Your sons will return to their borders," the phrase which has been taken word for word from Jeremiah, but decontextualized and misused.
This example is one among many in the methodical policy applied by the Palestinian Arabs to stick to the history and the ethos of the Jewish people. Regarding Rachel's Tomb, in 2001, textbooks in Palestinian Authority schools replaced the traditional name of "Dome of Rachel" with that of "Al Bilal Mosque," converting it into a Muslim holy site. It was then endorsed by UNESCO in 2010 as "part of Palestinian Heritage". This kind of reclamation of identity is part of the same process used in the first centuries by the Fathers of the Church, who developed the Theology of Replacement according to which the church has replaced the Jews as God’s children.
The appearance of a "Palestinian people driven from his home” reminds us of ancient Jewish history and the exile of the Jewish people driven out of Judea by the Romans. Hence was born the term "Jewish Diaspora", which coincidentally gave rise to the "Palestinian diaspora" in Palestinian Arabic lexicography.
Examples abound: exodus, wandering, camps, the centrality of Jerusalem, the odious comparison between Gaza and Auschwitz, between the Dura child and the Warsaw Ghetto, are trying to superimpose the suffering of the Jews in the ghettos onto the Palestinian people. Even Jesus, who was born and died as a Jew, has suddenly become a "Palestinian who fought against the occupier." Certainly, but against the Roman occupiers and his Jewish brethren, not to mention all the biblical characters who converted to Islam.
Examples abound: exodus, wandering, camps, the centrality of Jerusalem, the odious comparison between Gaza and Auschwitz, between the Dura child and the Warsaw Ghetto, are trying to superimpose the suffering of the Jews in the ghettos onto the Palestinian people. Even Jesus, who was born and died as a Jew, has suddenly become a "Palestinian who fought against the occupier." Certainly, but against the Roman occupiers and his Jewish brethren, not to mention all the biblical characters who converted to Islam.
This identity fraud is not without consequences. It is at the center of one of the greatest intellectual and political manipulations of all times, which has notably led to the recent votes in Europe on the recognition of a "Palestinian State" which corresponds to nothing historically.
Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas said a few days ago that there are "six million refugees waiting to return to their homes." Palestinian human rights activist Bassam Eid had the courage to denounce "the cynical use and operation of the status of 'refugee' by the Palestinian authorities, with the help of this UN institution. "
It is therefore not for the return of the Palestinian Arabs, a recent invention, that our matriarch Rachel is weeping, but for the Jewish exiles. And when the prophet Jeremiah announced the return of her sons to their borders, he was not referring to residents of the Aida refugee camp.
The Talmudic sages teach us that "the world is based on three things: Truth, Justice and Peace." Peace is not a means to achieve other goals. It is the result of Truth and Justice.