Just to keep perspective, here's the entrance of the tomb from before the construction of the fortress complex which  is used to protect visitors from terrorists:

 
Rachel's yahrzeit for 2005 was a great success in that many people swarmed to her grave site for prayers.

The outside area of her tomb had been adjusted by the Israel Defense Forces to assure the safety of all present.

Rachel, our Matriarch, died on the 11th of Heshvan 3,560 years ago and every year we commemorate her yahrzeit.  In Judaism it is considered a meritorious practice to visit the grave of one's ancestor on the anniversary of his or her death so droves of Jews travel to her grave every year to honor her.

For starters, the photo below is a picture of the Tomb area from a bit of a distance. Some explanation is necessary.  The following shot was taken about a a kilometer west of the tomb from the main highway (Route 60) near the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem.   Highway 60 has a section that starts at Gilo and heads south and passes through Gush Etzion, Hebron all the way to Be'ersheva.  Bethlehem is in the background of this picture. Rachel's tomb is not visible from position but is nestled within a small stand of pine trees behind the wall in the middle of the picture.

The wall that is plainly visible in this picture has been built by the Israeli government in an effort to block the movement of terrorists from Palestinian Authority controlled areas, areas that are often referred to by the media as the "West Bank".   (That wall has been a controversial issue in and out of Israel as many fear that it's function will later become one of an international border fence if/when the Israeli government should decide to surrender more land to the Arabs.)

The presence of Rachel's Tomb in the outskirts of Bethlehem posed a problem to those who were determining the route of the fence.  On the one hand the Israeli government would have preferred to have abandoned the Tomb and put the fence on the border of the Jerusalem municipality with it under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction.  If it were not for the hue and cry of Jews all over the world who demanded that the Israeli government keep Rachel's Tomb within state boundaries it surely would have been abandoned by being left outside of the fence.  So it is because the need to keep this Jewish holy site, the third most important site, within Israeli hands that the fence makes a curious route that encloses the Tomb so that it remains on the Israeli-side:
 
 

Except for the photo at the top of this page, all  photos here Copyright 2006, The Committee For Rachel's Tomb.
See our Copyright page for details in obtaining permission to use these photos.

This year, as every year armored busses were provided for the transportation of visitors to the tomb.  Visitors were picked up by the armored bus at the Gilo Junction and the following are pictures taken out of the front window of the bus as we traveled along the road on the "Israeli-side" of the Fence:

Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger version.
 

Yahrzeit Picture Number 1	Yahrzeit Picture Number 2
Yahrzeit Picture Number 3	Yahrzeit Picture Number 4
Yahrzeit Picture Number 5	Yahrzeit Picture Number 6
Yahrzeit Picture Number 7	Once our bus passed into the protected area around the Tomb I disembarked and looked around...
Yahrzeit Picture Number 8 This is Hebron Road looking north toward Jerusalem.  It used to be the main highway which passed through Bethlehem going south to Be'ersheva. Those of us who lived in this area for a long time remember driving along this road as, until relitively recently, it was the only way to get to and from communities south of the Capitol.  Due to the fact that Jewish vehicles were daily stoned by Arabs, were often targets of thrown molotov cocktails, and fired upon while driving this road, a bypass-highway was built so that Jews could avoid this area completely. The economic consequences of the Arab violence and the bypass-road can be seen by these Arab homes and storefronts. Businesses which once catered to both Jews and a lively foriegn tourist trade now sit silent, empty and many boarded up.	Yahrzeit Picture Number 9 This carved bas-relief of St. George Slaying the Dragon is prominently displayed on a Christian owned store front on Hebron Road. The store is closed to business.  Christians have used this theme of St. George as a metaphor for the conflict between Christianity and Islam.  The winner of this stage of the battle seems to be the Muslims, for only a few years back Bethlehem was a thriving Christian town but due to threats and frequent violence that Muslims have aplied, the Christians have been moving away. The percentage of Christians now living in the town has dropped below 10%.  Those that remain are under the Palestinian Authority (PLO) rule are continuing to be deliberately ill-treated in an effort to force them out.
Yahrzeit Picture Number 10	Yahrzeit Picture Number 11
Yahrzeit Picture Number 12	Yahrzeit Picture Number 13
Yahrzeit Picture Number 14 Looking downhill, left	Yahrzeit Picture Number 15 Looking downhill, center
Yahrzeit Picture Number 16 Looking downhill, center-right	Yahrzeit Picture Number 17 Looking downhill, far-right
Yahrzeit Picture Number 18	Yahrzeit Picture Number 19 Looking south, south guard tower of the Tomb visable
Yahrzeit Picture Number 20 Tomb entrance for men	Yahrzeit Picture Number 21 Tomb entrance for women

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