Standing beneath the imposing stone walls of one of the most ancient and revered sites in the West Bank, Yishai Fleischer was blunt in his assessment of its significance in modern times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s something that should be bringing people together, but oftentimes places like this actually make people jealous and tear them apart,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Fleischer wanted to meet the ABC at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the city of Hebron, south of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
The site is said to be the burial place of the prophet Abraham, a significant figure in Judaism, Islam and Christianity, and is considered one of the holiest places in all three religions.<\/p>\n
Control of the building has been wrested between conquering forces for centuries and the structure today, which sits over the cave where Abraham and his family are buried, is half synagogue and half mosque.<\/p>\n
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A drone view of the Ibrahimi Mosque, which Jews call the Tomb of the Patriarchs. (Reuters: Ilan Rosenberg)<\/p>\n
Mr Fleischer’s description of the place was a simple summation of a problem dogging this part of the world, but belies the severity of the situation facing the West Bank as his fellow Israeli settlers demand control over areas where millions of Palestinians live.<\/p>\n
“It’s a Jewish building on top of Jewish tombs, and the Jewish people have been living at this town and praying here at this tomb for the last 3,500 years,” he argued.<\/p>\n
“For the Jewish people to survive in this region, we have to be strong in terms of our identity, in terms of our economy, in terms of our military, in terms of our spirituality.<\/p>\n
“Haters will have to go \u2026 we have to be strong here and push back in forces that want to destroy us.”<\/p>\n
It is a view that permeates the settler movement, and some other corners of the Israeli society \u2014 that all the land west of the Jordan River is Jewish land, and any action to restore control is a God-given right.<\/p>\n
That belief has spurred some within Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, often referred to as the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, to push for legislation formally annexing the West Bank.<\/p>\n
Despite his backing of Israel on a range of other matters, that has been a step too far for the US President Donald Trump, who in September told journalists: “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.”<\/p>\n
But many believe it is something of an academic argument \u2014 that annexation has already happened as a result of Israel’s vice-like control of the West Bank and its government’s support for Jewish settlers.<\/p>\n
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Tomb of the Patriarchs is said to be the burial place of the prophet Abraham. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Israel approved 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank \u2014 including re-establishing two settlements that were dismantled two decades ago.<\/p>\n
Settlements are considered illegal under international law, but many figures in the Israeli government and settler movement see the territory as their land.<\/p>\n
“The Jewish people are resettling this land, this is the heartland of our story, this is the DNA of our people-hood,” Mr Fleischer said.<\/p>\n
“We’re connected to this thing inextricably; we’re not going to be connected this way to Brooklyn or to Sydney or Melbourne. It’s not the same.”<\/p>\n
Palestinians live in fear<\/p>\n
On a hill overlooking the Tomb, anti-settlement activist Issa Amro’s house is encased in tall fencing, which he argued was necessary to protect him from settler attacks \u2014 everything from rock throwing to fire bombings.<\/p>\n