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19 Cheshvan 5765 - November 3, 2004 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Maranan Verabonon: Stop Grave Destruction in Acco
By Betzalel Kahn

Although the Transportation Ministry has officially acknowledged that the graves slated for disinterment in Acco are indeed part of an ancient Jewish cemetery, Minister Meir Shetreet is pursuing the original plan to raze the site to make room for railroad tracks and a tunnel, apparently in "revenge" for the UTJ vote against the Disengagement Plan.

Dozens of northern residents arrived at the site to protest this week. On Monday they saw tractors plow through the graves. Inspectors appointed by the Religious Affairs Ministry (while it was still in operation) were at the site to prevent grave desecration during the excavations, but they stood in astonishment as bulldozers scooped up human skeletons indiscriminately.

Among the inspectors was Rav Rothschild. "We stood near the [ancient] graves as the bulldozers approached," he said. "Using the teeth of the forward earth scoop they began to destroy one grave after the next, and destroyed human bones and skeletons before our eyes. It was an appalling sight like none I've ever seen before."

The police charged into the protest rally, arresting 40 demonstrators. In order to isolate them the protesters were sent to different detention centers and police stations in Arab towns in the Galilee where they spent hours in damp holding tanks.

Led by Maran HaRav Eliashiv, maranan verabonon issued an announcement calling on the public to take action against the desecration of ancient graves in Acco, which resumed last Sunday.

The announcement reads, "[Our hearts should tremble and be moved] over the terrible decree upon us . . . Graves are being destroyed and the deceased are being stolen from the ancient cemetery in the city of Acco, the site of the burial of our forefathers and rabbonim from the period of the Tanoim and Rishonim from the time of the Ramban, zechuso yogen oleinu.

"Over twenty graves have already been destroyed and robbed . . . in the ancient cemetery in Acco and there are plans to quickly empty many more graves and steal the deceased during the next few days, and there can be no meis mitvzah greater than this, for the decree is being carried out right now.

" . . . Due to our many sins a disgrace has been done in Yisroel, the work of the soiled hands of our own [brethren] who have thrown off the yoke of Torah and mitzvas--in addition to uprooting the belief in the eternalness of the soul in this decree, Rachmono litzlan.

"And according what we have heard all of the efforts to remove this misdeed from Yisroel have fallen on deaf ears. If we remain silent at such a time while their hands are poised, Hashem yeracheim, it would also create a precedent for the looting--under police patronage--of all of the cemeteries in Eretz Hakodesh, and what that might lead to nobody can know. This would also endanger cemeteries abroad, where there are no more Jewish residents, as we have seen, Rachmono litzlan.

"The geonim of the preceding generations cried out regarding the great awakening to do teshuvoh, for we must awaken to avert the curse, Rachmono litzlan, of `Vehoyso yad Hashem bochem uva'avoseichem.' For from this Chazal learned that through the sins of the living the dead stir.

"Therefore all who have yiras Hashem in their hearts and feel pained over kovod Shomayim and kovod avoseinu have a holy obligation to do whatever is in their power to annul this terrible decree and to protest through any possible means until this disgrace is removed from among us."

High fences were erected around the site to prevent demonstrators from interfering.

Earlier digging was interrupted through the involvement of MKs Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz and Rabbi Moshe Gafni, who spoke with the Prime Minister and Transportation Minister on the issue. Sharon directed Shetreet to stop the excavation work until a solution was found and Shetreet met with Rav Michoh Rothschild, one of the heads of the Association for the Prevention of Grave Desecration. During the meeting Rav Rothschild presented Minister Shetreet with clear proof from sifrei kadmonim to debunk claims by archaeologists that the cemetery is not Jewish.

He also presented Minister Shetreet with various proposals to lay the tracks without harming the graves. A bridge overpass, for example, would be safer than a tunnel and save the cost of excavation.

Although Shetreet agreed to meet to seek a viable solution to the problem, later it became clear this promise was merely a ploy: in reality Sharon and Shetreet had ordered the digging work stopped as part of political maneuvers to persuade the chareidi MKs to back the disengagement plan.

According to chareidi public figures, "The moment the chareidi MKs voted against the plan in the Knesset as maranan verabonon shlita instructed them, the Prime Minister and Transportation Minister decided to descend upon the ancient graves and completely raze them. Therefore this is not merely a fight by the chareidi public against the destruction of the graves, but against the Government of Israel, which seeks to uproot ancient graves, among other things, as an act of personal political retaliation by the Prime Minister against the entire chareidi public."

Following the announcement by the Transportation Ministry Spokesman that excavation work would resume, MK Rabbi Gafni said, "When harm is done to Jewish graves in other parts of the world everybody is up in arms, including the government. [Yet in this case] the government itself is doing the extremely grave act of destroying and harming a Jewish cemetery. I call on the Transportation Minister, and I will also speak with him personally, to stop the destruction of the cemetery and continue discussing alternative solutions."

A large protest demonstration in Jerusalem is currently being organized.

 

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