This archive report was first published on 10 July 2019.
Published on July 10, 2019, a group of young American Jews embarked on a tour of Hebron, witnessing firsthand the harsh realities of the Israeli occupation.
Ms. Ofran, their guide, shared stories of violence and tragedy, including the 1929 massacre of 67 Jews and the 1994 shooting of 29 Muslims as they prayed. These events marked the beginning of a period of Arab suicide bombings.
The group walked through what were once bustling market streets, now abandoned and overgrown with weeds. Ms. Ofran explained that Palestinians were forbidden from using these streets, even to access their front doors. The area is now a graveyard of empty storefronts and apartments, with some homes occupied by settlers who had moved in illegally.
“People aren’t kicked out,” Ms. Ofran said, describing the Palestinians who had fled. “It’s unbearable to live here.”
At a checkpoint, the group witnessed the strict separation between the Israeli-controlled section and the Palestinian city. Soldiers protected 800 settlers from the 200,000 Palestinians living beyond the gate. Ms. Ofran pointed out the difficulties faced by the Palestinian residents, including the inability to receive cooking gas deliveries due to the restrictions.
The only Palestinian vehicle allowed into the area was a garbage truck, highlighting the severe limitations placed on the Palestinian population.
For Liyah Foye, a 19-year-old senior at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, the experience was particularly poignant. As a black Jew, she had faced her own share of bigotry, and the idea that a state founded to protect one marginalized group was oppressing another was deeply disturbing.
Ms. Foye had always seen Israel as a beacon of light, but what she witnessed on this tour left her feeling overwhelmed. “My joy and my light shouldn’t be coming from someone else’s darkness,” she said.
