WEST BANK: LATINO CONTINGENT OF CONVERTS TO JUDAISM IS LATEST ARRIVAL IN AREA WHERE JEWISH SETTLERS AND PALESTIANS ARE LOCKED IN CONFLICT
Record ID:
566245
WEST BANK: LATINO CONTINGENT OF CONVERTS TO JUDAISM IS LATEST ARRIVAL IN AREA WHERE JEWISH SETTLERS AND PALESTIANS ARE LOCKED IN CONFLICT
- Title: WEST BANK: LATINO CONTINGENT OF CONVERTS TO JUDAISM IS LATEST ARRIVAL IN AREA WHERE JEWISH SETTLERS AND PALESTIANS ARE LOCKED IN CONFLICT
- Date: 1st August 2002
- Summary: (U1) ALON SHVUT SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK (JULY 25, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. MV TEACHER LEADING HEBREW CLASS FOR NEW IMMIGRANTS IN WEST BANK JEWISH SETTLEMENT OF ALON SHVUT; SCU YOUNG PERUVIAN WOMAN REPEATING HEBREW PHRASES; SCU YOUNG PERUVIAN WOMEN REPEATING PHRASES (3 SHOTS) 0.26 2. SCU PERUVIAN MAN LOOKING AT EXERCISES; SCU YOUNG PERUVIAN WOMAN REPEATING PHRASES; MV TEACHER IN SECOND CLASS LEADING STUDENTS IN REPETITION EXERCISE; SCU OLDER WOMEN IN CLASS; SCU MEN IN CLASS; SCU WOMAN REPEATING EXERCISE; SCU MAN IN CLASS (7 SHOTS) 1.15 3. MV TEACHER LEADING CLASS THEN APPLAUDING STUDENTS 1.21 4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) ISRAEL LUJAN SAYING "The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is closer to Israel. The Torah is life here. You have everything at hand, teachers, Yeshiva, a ritual bath for the women, a mini-market, you dont lack for anything, which makes you want to study, to continue forward. Here you have everything to climb higher and higher and higher." 1.48 5. SLV PAN TRAILERS HOME AT EDGE OF ALON SHVUT WHERE NEW IMMIGRANTS LIVE; MV PERUVIAN GIRL PUSHING CART ALONG ROAD (2 SHOTS) 2.11 6. MV BEN-HAIM FAMILY ENTERING TRAILER HOME; MV INTERIOR OF TRAILER HOME, COUPLE PREPARING LUNCH; MV WOMAN WORKING AT SINK; SCU LISTS OF HEBREW WORDS ON WALL; SCU MAN AND SON DRINKING AT TABLE (5 SHOTS) 2.50 7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) NACHSHON BEN HAIM SAYING "Us being convinced of the Jewish religion did not happen over night; it was a process. In that process that we went through, thanks to the literature that we got hold of, we, that is, I personally, was persuaded that I am a Jew. Because in our former religion, we love the land of Israel with all our heart." 3.25 (U1) NEAR HEBRON, WEST BANK (JULY 26, 2002) (REUTERS) 8. MV BULLET-RIDDLED CAR WHERE THREE SETTLERS WERE KILLED DRIVING ON ROAD NEAR HEBRON, NOT FAR FROM ALON SHVUT, BLOODSTAIN ON PAVEMENT NEXT TO BAGS; MV SECURITY MEN STANDING NEAR CAR; SCU BULLET HOLES IN SHATTERED WINDOW OF SECOND CAR IN DOUBLE SHOOTING ON ROAD NEAR HEBRON, SECURITY FORCES NEARBY; SCU BLOODSTAIN ON PAVEMENT; MV POLICEMEN AT SCENE (4 SHOTS) 3.56 (U1) ALON SHVUT SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK (JULY 25, 2002) (REUTERS) 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BEN HAIM SAYING They didn't tell us that this was occupied territory, as it is called. They told us You are going to, they told us a name, to Carmei Tzur (settlement), they said. But they didnt tell us it was occupied territory. However, let me say that I personally think that the phrase occupied territories doesnt exist in Judaism. This is a problem that perhaps our Arab brothers have created, that we occupy this territory. Jews have had this land since our forefather Abraham." 4.40 10. LV PALESTINIAN CITY ON HORIZON, PULLOUT TO ALON SHVUT TRAILERS WHERE PERUVIAN SETTLERS LIVE; MV BEN-HAIM FAMILY AT HOME IN TRAILER (2 SHOTS) 5.02 11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) BATSHEVA MENDOZA SAYING "When I was in Peru I thought that here in the nation of Israel everyone practices the religion, that everyone observed the same, studied Torah, everyone. But I see that there are sorts of people, especially in Jerusalem, see. Because they look just like other places in the world." 5.28 12. MV TWO PERUVIAN COUPLES WALKING ALONG ROAD IN ALON SHVUT, MEN IN FRONT, WOMEN BEHIND 5.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 16th August 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ALON SHVUT SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK/ NEAR HEBRON, WEST BANK
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVAS3XZGVJ6BYVF4RVN879PCBFU
- Story Text: A Latino contingent of fervent converts to Judaism is
the latest arrival on the West Bank, where Jewish settlers and
Palestinians are locked in a bitter war of sovereignty.
Exotic immigrants are taking Hebrew lessons in two West
Bank Jewish settlements they now call home, new Peruvian
Jews whose love of the Holy Land blossomed when they were
fundamentalist Christians.
Converted by Israeli rabbis and brought here just over two
months ago, these new Jews have been installed in the
religious
settlements of Carmei Tzur and Alon Shvut.
Both lie in disputed West Bank territory between the
Palestinian cities of Bethlehem and Hebron.
Most Israelis would be terrified of making their lives
here, but for these 90 converts of Indian origin, it is a
long-sought-after religious refuge.
And though they are a world away from the river between
Trujillo and Cajamarca where many of them were emersed for
conversion, they say they feel completely at home in the land
they believe God gave to the Jews.
Dressed like their new neighbours in the traditional garb
of Orthodox Jews, they are learning Hebrew in classes
organised by
Israels absorption ministry. According to Jewish custom, men
and women sit separately.
Israel Lujan -- formerly Dante Israel Lujan, says he and
his wife left Peru in search of a Jewish community where a
religious lifestyle was the norm and where the coming of the
Messiah was only a matter of time.
"The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is closer to Israel. The
Torah is life here. You have everything at hand, teachers, a
yeshiva (religious seminary), a ritual bath for the women, a
mini-market, you dont lack for anything, which makes you
want to study, to continue forward. Here you have everything to climb higher and higher and higher", he said.
The group was whisked from Tel Aviv airport to the West
Bank, where they have set up house, like many new settlers
in prefab trailers on the perilous edges of Carmei Tzur and
Alon Shvut.
Both communities are in the heart of occupied territories
where three million Palestinians chafe under Israeli military
rule and the growing Jewish settlements that are home to some
250,000 settlers.
Like most of the religious settlers, the Peruvians dismiss
Palestinian claims to the land.
For them it is the perfect landscape for developing a
nascent Jewish identity, for completing a symbolic return to
the heart of ancient Israel.
Though members of the group stop short of claiming they
are lost Jews from the 10 dispersed Biblical tribes, they say
they might be descendents of Marranos, or crypto-Jews, who
travelled to the New World during the Spanish Inquisition.
The founders of this group parted ways from mainstream
Christianity in the 1950s when they began to observe some
Biblical commandments and celebrate Jewish holidays found in
the Hebrew Bible.
Nachshon Ben-Haim, formerly Pedro Mendoza, says it took
some time before he was persuaded that he had a Jewish heart.
"Our being convinced of the Jewish religion did not happen
overnight; it was a process. During that process which we went
through, thanks to the literature that we got hold of, we,
that is, I personally, was persuaded that I am a Jew", he said.
Because in our former religion, we love the land of Israel
with all our heart.
Two earlier groups of converted Peruvians also immigrated
to settle in the West Bank.
It is a dangerous area, where settlers who have come to
live on land Israel won in the 1967 Middle East war are
targeted daily by Palestinian militants who want the West Bank and Gaza
for a future state.
Many are paying for their ideology with their lives, taken
from them by Palestinians who gun them down on West Bank
roads.
"They didn't tell us that this was occupied territory, as it is called. They told us You are going to, they told us a name, to Carmei Tzur (settlement)", they said. "But they didn't tell us it was occupied territory. However, I personally think that the phrase occupied territories doesnt exist in Judaism.
It is a problem that perhaps our Arab brothers have
created, that we occupy this territory. Jews have had this
land since our forefather Abraham."
Since their arrival, few if any of the new settlers have
ventured out to Israel proper. For the moment, Tel Aviv or
Haifa might as well be as far away as Lima.
Batsheva Ban-Haim, whose name used to Egla Mendoza, said
contemporary Israel came as a surprise.
"When I was in Peru I thought that here in the nation of
Israel everyone practice the religion, that everyone observed
the same, studied Torah, everyone. But I see that there are
sorts of people, at least in Jerusalem, see, Because they look
just like other places in the world."
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