It was only after my daughter returned from Israel that I realized that she had been at the hotspot of the collision of ideologies in Hebron. She had gone from Jerusalem where she had been in a nearby moshav working for about nine months. As she visited a friend there, they stayed at the winery where the friend was working.
Hebron is also known as Kiryath Arba and this winery is a hundred and twenty years old situated in the heart of the Hebron mountains. Kiryath Arba is as old as the hills! It is mentioned in Genesis 23 as the place where Abraham buried Sarah and also in Joshua 14:15. This is the grave of Machpelah.
It is in the West Bank and its population is about 7000. It was founded in 1968 as an Israeli settlement by Jews but it is in Palestine territory. Israeli settlers here have been at the receiving end of attacks from the Palestinians. On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped. The Hamas, a militant Sunni Islamic fundamentalist organization in Palestine, denied kidnapping and tensions between Palestine and Israel escalated, whereas it had been pretty calm since after the November 2012 ceasefire. It was in September 2013 that my daughter had gone to Israel to spend nine months working in the moshav, which was fortunate for her as she was able to go around Israel and parts of Palestine without any trouble. She was in Hebron on the day that the kidnapping took place and returned to India two days later. The bodies of the teenagers were found in a field north west of Hebron on June 30, 2014. The tensions since then have increases more and more and spread even to Jerusalem.
Those of us who believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon, know that only He can bring peace into the hearts of the Jews and Palestinians alike, because He is the Prince of Peace. No peace treaties or peace brokering by the UN or any authority can bring about peace because heart peace only comes from God. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem and love the city!
Hebron is also known as Kiryath Arba and this winery is a hundred and twenty years old situated in the heart of the Hebron mountains. Kiryath Arba is as old as the hills! It is mentioned in Genesis 23 as the place where Abraham buried Sarah and also in Joshua 14:15. This is the grave of Machpelah.
It is in the West Bank and its population is about 7000. It was founded in 1968 as an Israeli settlement by Jews but it is in Palestine territory. Israeli settlers here have been at the receiving end of attacks from the Palestinians. On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped. The Hamas, a militant Sunni Islamic fundamentalist organization in Palestine, denied kidnapping and tensions between Palestine and Israel escalated, whereas it had been pretty calm since after the November 2012 ceasefire. It was in September 2013 that my daughter had gone to Israel to spend nine months working in the moshav, which was fortunate for her as she was able to go around Israel and parts of Palestine without any trouble. She was in Hebron on the day that the kidnapping took place and returned to India two days later. The bodies of the teenagers were found in a field north west of Hebron on June 30, 2014. The tensions since then have increases more and more and spread even to Jerusalem.
Those of us who believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon, know that only He can bring peace into the hearts of the Jews and Palestinians alike, because He is the Prince of Peace. No peace treaties or peace brokering by the UN or any authority can bring about peace because heart peace only comes from God. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem and love the city!
