Jerusalem Post – Israel’s Jews are facing a crisis in their own community after decades of neglect and neglecting the needs of their community.
In the wake of the wave of attacks on Israeli civilians that have hit the Jewish community in recent years, the Israeli government announced plans to expand the size of the Jewish Agency, a government-run body that manages the nation’s 1.8 million Jews.
It also announced plans for the creation of a national cemetery in the city of Hebron, which was home to the Jewish settlers who built it during the Jewish national exodus from the territory of Israel in the 18th century.
According to a report in the Hebrew-language daily Haaretz, the plan will involve a plan to convert the old Hebron synagogue to a national graveyard and to allow for the relocation of the graves of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers killed or wounded in the conflict.
“The state is committed to a change of heart on this issue,” said MK Eli Yishai, a member of the Joint Arab List.
“We will not forget the people who died in Hebron and the city, who lost their lives on the battlefields of Hebros, and we will not accept that they are buried in the dirt.”
Yishai is the only Israeli lawmaker to support the proposal, which is opposed by the Prime Minister’s Office and by the Israel Defense Forces, the country’s military.
The proposed plan also would mean the creation and rehabilitation of a new cemetery in Hebrons new neighborhood, in the West Bank city of Nablus.
The area was a strategic point in the 1967 war, which left hundreds of Israeli civilians dead.
The new cemetery would be a memorial for the victims of the conflict, and Yisha said it will have a special significance to the residents of the neighborhood, which includes the Hebron refugee camp, and the people of the West bank, where hundreds of Jewish settlements have been built over the years.
“It’s going to be a place where we will all go,” he said.
Despite the Israeli push to build the new cemetery, the idea has been met with opposition by the local Jewish community.
“The idea of building a cemetery in our area, which would include the families of the Hebrons killed or injured in the past, is unacceptable and against all our values,” Rabbi David Shafran, the head of the Bnei Brak community, told Haaretz.
“They [the Israeli government] are not just ignoring the memory of our families, they are also ignoring the future of our children and grandchildren.”
The proposal to create the cemetery has been opposed by many in Hebors communities, which have struggled to rebuild following the outbreak of the current conflict.
Israel has also not allowed Palestinians in the area to return to their homes after a six-month siege in which more than 2,100 Palestinians have been killed, mostly by Israeli forces.
As tensions between Israelis and Palestinians continue to escalate, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to use the next round of Israeli elections to push through plans for a new Jewish state, and his administration has threatened to use force to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In a statement on Wednesday, Netanyahu said the plan to build a new Israeli cemetery is a step in the right direction, but that it is important to remember that we are not going to solve the problem of Jewish identity in the state of Israel.
“For the future, I am convinced that the creation, rehabilitation and building of a memorial to the fallen is a positive step, but it cannot replace the very real and important work of the state,” Netanyahu said.
“The solution of the problem lies in rebuilding and improving the lives of all the citizens of the State of Israel.”