The Justice

Gail Goldspiel/the Justice

Sometimes it's hard to share. Judaism, Christianity and Islam share a religious history through their common patriarch, Abraham. However, when that history transcends into the physical reality of a present-day city, sharing becomes difficult.

All three traditions name the city of Hebron as the home and burial place of Abraham and his family. Now, 4,000 years after the father of monotheism is believed to have lived, Abraham's descendants are forced to find a way to share the city and its holy sites.

To share, or to divide.

Early one Friday morning, I boarded a bus to Hebron, a city divided into Jewish and Arab neighborhoods, which lies in the West Bank just 18 miles south of Jerusalem. Through thick, bullet-proof windows, I watched as the bus weaved through the scatter of Jewish and Arab towns in the Gush Etzion settlement block.

The landscape would have seemed peaceful in the light of the waking sun were it not for the walls. More visible than the much debated security fence were the walls protecting the road and towns that cut across the hills like scars of the violence that plagued the area during the most recent Intifada, the Palestinian uprising launched in 2000.

Unlike the security fence, these 10-foot cement barriers that line parts of the highway are not disputed. They are, rather, a necessary defense against terrorist sniper fire, which only a few years ago made travel on these roads without an armored car a life-threatening expedition.

The walls serve as a poignant reminder of the mutual distrust that divides the Jewish and Palestinian residents of this area, a mistrust that the Oslo Accords attempted unsuccessfully to heal, but remains, perpetuated by the ongoing violence. It seems almost unfathomable that villages less than a kilometer apart can be so distanced from each other by these barriers, cement and otherwise.

As I entered Hebron, I encountered dividing walls of a different form. Since before the time of King Herod, the Cave of the Patriarchs has been recognized as a holy site, the burial place of many early biblical figures. Visitors approaching the site walk up a set of gradually ascending steps towards the 2,000 year old structure before dividing: Jews to the left, Muslims to the right.

The interior is likewise divided. Despite the fact that the current structure of the building was constructed by Muslims to be one continuous space, a series of doors create two separate prayer areas inside.

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