Page 2 Portland Observer, November 12, 1981
Members of an "ancient Black tribe" live in an old Jordanian Pri
son in old Jerusalem..
' -4 *
A young Black Arabic girl among other school children.
These children of an "ancient Black tribe" live In Jericho.
Black Americans seek spiritual roots in Israel
Part II
Inside Israel
by Cleo Franklin
During 1967 a group o f Black
Americans left the United States for
Liberia to begin the necessary prep
arations to enter “ Northeastern A f
rica” (Israel). The group, identify
ing themselves as the O riginal
Hebrew Israelite Nation o f Jerusa
lem, has set out to fu lfill the “ prom
ise made to Abraham by the God o f
Israel that his seed would inherit the
land.” (Genesis, Chapter 49.)
The Hebrew Israelites or Black
Hebrews first entered Israel legally;
they were given the rights o f im m i
grants but not the recognition o f im
mediate citizenship under the Law
o f Return. (Under the Law o f Re
turn you must have been born o f a
Jewish mother to be granted Israeli
citizenship automatically.) During
the ’70s the Black Hebrews grew to
between 3,000 and 5,000 and the
people began to spread from Di-
mona (a small town in Southern Is
rael) to other southern towns. The
o rig in al groups fro m Liberia en
tered Israel as immigrants, but this
status ended soon after the Black
Hebrews started entering Israel d i
rectly from the U nited States as
tourists.
Shortly after the settlers started
a rriving d ire ctly from the United
States as tourists the problems be
gan.
Sources from the Black Hebrew
C om m unity have reported many
cases o f harassment while living in
Israel. These sources say that people
have been detained, some have been
ja ile d fo r as long as nine months
and other have been deported.
Sources in the Black Hebrew Com
munity see this harassment as an ef
fort to discourage the “ building o f a
nation.”
In the Bible, the name given Ja
cob was eponymous ancestor o f the
Hebrews, the chosen people o f God.
The twelve tribes o f Israel were
named fo r 10 sons o f Jacob
(Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Zebulon,
lssachar, Dan, Gad, Asher Naphtali
and Benjamin) and the two sons o f
Jacob’ s son Joseph (E phraim and
Manasseh). The Black Hebrews
identify all Black Americans as be
ing from the tribes o f Judah and
Benjamin.
According to Brother Ahaion o f
the Hebrew community in Israel it
was “ the Black Kings and Queens o f
the tribes o f Judah and Benjamin
who served as slaves during times o f
slavery in the United States. These
were the people that were taken
from their homeland in ’ N o rth
eastern A frica* (Israel) and put
aboard slav-ships bound fo r the
United States. These people today
are known as ‘ Black Americans.’ ”
The Hebrews o f Dimona see the
Bible as a “ history book” and it has
“ no connection to re lig io n .” The
“ Kingdom o f God is simply right
ness, morals and principles based
upon the rightness o f G o d .” The
Hebrew Israelites see themselves as
the “ true people o f God,” and their
return to Israel as the return o f the
“ Kings and Queens o f the tribes o f
Judah and Benjamin.”
A ccording to the Bible it is the
trib e o f Judah that w ill bring the
other tribes together (Genesis
49.10). The Hebrew Israelites asso
ciate their movement with the tribe
o f Judah and see their return to Is
rael as the beginning o f a nation that
will reclaim the wealth o f the land.
While visiting Israel 1 had the op
portunity to visit Jericho. Jericho
and its surroundings spread out in
the shimmering heat. Jericho,
thought to be one o f the oldest cities
in the world, swelters in the humidi
ty o f 800 feet below sea level. An
abundance o f water and the warm,
damp air provide ideal conditions
for growing exotic flowers and sub
tropical fruits like dates, bananas,
mangos and papayas, the main oc
cupation o f Jericho’ s 7,000 inhabi
tants is agriculture. In Jericho I vis-
¡ted an “ ancient Black trib e .” The
men, women, and children whom I
saw in Jericho, to my surprise, had
physical characteristics sim ilar to
Black Americans. The people speak
A rabic and claim to have been in
Jericho for thousands o f years.
1 also saw Black Arabs in Old Je
rusalem; they also had the features
o f Black Americans and spoke
A rabic. They, too , claim to have
been in Israel fo r thousands o f
years.
During September o f this year
Prime M inister Mcnachem Begin
and President Reagan held talks in
Washington D.C. to discuss specific
ways to strengthen the U.S.-Israeli
strategic alliance. During Begin's
visit he met with a group o f Black
Americans in W ashington. Begin
specifically asked that the Black He
brews o f Dimona be convinced to
“ stop making anti-Israeli declara
tions.*’ and also to “ stop claiming
o rig in in Isra e l.” A ccording to
sources w ith in the Black Hebrew
C om m unity, Begin once said in a
news conference that the Black He
brews in Dimona would eventually
be granted citizenship, but has since
rescinded his statement.
The Black Hebrews o f Dimona
have come from all over the United
States. The people are a representa
tive sample o f a wide variety o f eco
nomic and educational back
grounds. 1 met and spoke with one
member o f the community who said
that he was told that he was “ uned-
ucablc” in the United States. Since
a rrivin g in Dim ona the man has
learned to speak 13 different lan
guages fluently. The children o f D i
mona are well-mannered and seem
to be on an excellent course o f learn
ing. There is a need for more books,
encyclopedias and other teaching
aids for children.
The people o f Dimona seem to be
well organized and seem to be on the
course necessary to establish the
“ Kingdom o f God” as prophesied
in Genesis, Chapter 49.
To establish the “ Kingdom o f
God” in Israel is a struggle for 2,000
Blacks who left America and identi
fy themselves as the O riginal He
brew Israelite Nation o f Jerusalem.
It is clear that some questions still
need to be answered and it seems
lime w ill be the best teacher. Could
it be the Hebrews o f Dimona can in
fact be the original Hebrew Israel
ites? Could it be that the Black
Arabs o f Jericho and Old Jerusalem
are among those people who were
missed during the times people were
being enslaved? Is it possible that
the Black Hebrews can and might
inherit the land? Why is it that the
people o f Ancient Black tribes o f
Jericho and Jerusalem look so much
like Black Americans? One Arabic
woman in Old Jerusalem to ld me
that we look so much alike because
“ I am her brother and she is my sis
ter.” To date I ’ ve had no better ex
planation.
“ The sceptre shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, until Shiloh come;
and unto him shall the gathering o f
the tribe be.” (Genesis 49:10)
(N E X T WEEK: L ife in Israel)
R S S E C IT Y A P P L IA N C E
Children return home from school in the eastern Galilee region.
USED
A P P L IA N C E 'S
P ick-u p and delivery arran g ed on repairs
Members of an "ancient Black tribe" relax on Prison Gate Street
in Old Jerusalem.
b u y - SELL -
(Photos: Cleo Franklin)
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