Rivlin visits Tomb of the Patriarchs
Rivlin visits Tomb of the PatriarchsAmos Ben Gershom/GPO

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday visited the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hevron and the nearby town of Kiryat Arba, where he spoke at a conference held by the Jabotinsky Institute marking the 90th and anniversary of the 1929 riots.

In his remarks at the conference, the president described the massacre of 67 Jews in Hevron during the August 1929 riots, also claimed the lives of 66 Jews in attacks elsewhere in the British Mandate of Palestine.

“The City of the Patriarchs became the city of murder. The ancient Jewish community, which had been part of the city for centuries, was wiped out.” He also spoke about his own family connection to the city and of his grandfather, Eliyahu Yosef Rivlin, who was one of the founders of the Chabad community in the city.

“Here in Hevron, the City of the Patriarchs, in a cave that was bought for full price, our right to this land was established as just and moral, a right to property over which is and will always be uncontestable,” noted the president, referring to the purchase of the cave of Machpela by Abraham. He added, “From that time and until the brutal massacre of 1929, the city was one of the four holy cities with continuous Jewish settlement that was renewed again after the victory in the Six Day War.”

The president commented on claims raised by historians in recent years regarding the riots of 1929, “according to which the disturbances were directed against Zionism and the Zionists, and that the rioters did not want to harm the veteran Jewish residents of Hevron.”

The president stressed: “These claims are totally unfounded. The riots of 1929 were directed against all Jews of all ethnicities and views, simply because they were Jews. No distinction was made. It was indeed Zionism that concluded after the terrible massacre that times had changed, that we would forever have to protect ourselves by our own means, and that all Jews are responsible for each other’s safety. And as Jabotinsky said the day after the massacre: ‘Zionism demands we build this country, but we will not be able to do so unless it is on the basis of security for which we ourselves will be responsible.’ This was the lessons of the 1929 riots, not their cause.”

“Hevron is not a barrier to peace. It is a test of our ability to live together, Jews and Arabs, to live decent lives side by side,” said the president. “The State of Israel must promote quality of life for all residents of the area, to assure that Hevron and Kiryat Arba grow and flourish, and to establish new neighborhoods.”

At the end of his remarks, the president thanked the residents of the Jewish community of Hevron: “you who established and maintain the Jewish settlement with devotion, love of the land of Israel and love of the people of Israel.”

From there, the president continued to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, where he was accompanied by Rabbi Hillel Horovitz, Malachi Levinger and Noam Arnon, and where he visited the Seventh Step and toured the compound. Where an elevator is to be installed to allow everyone to access the site, the president noted that this was a basic need and that it was inconceivable that for so many years it had not been addressed. He spoke with the soldiers responsible for securing the site, greeted those at prayer and offered a personal prayer.

"כאן בחברון נוסדה זכותנו על הארץ"