The Makhamra family ( ar, المخامرة), also Muhamra or Mahmara, is an
extended family
An extended family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and their children to include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins or other relatives, all living nearby or in the same household. Particular forms include the stem ...
from the
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
city of
Yatta, in the
Hebron Governorate
The Hebron Governorate ( ar, محافظة الخليل, Muḥāfaẓat al-Ḫalīl) is an administrative district of Palestine in the southern West Bank.
The governorate's land area is and its population according to the Palestinian Central Bur ...
,
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
. It is one of the largest clans in the southern
Hebron Hills
The Hebron Hills, also known as Mount Hebron ( ar, جبل الخليل, translit=Jabal al-Khalīl, he, הר חברון, translit=Har Hevron), are a mountain ridge, geographic region, and geologic formation, comprising the southern part of the J ...
. In
Palestinian Arabic
Palestinian Arabic is a dialect continuum of mutually intelligible varieties of Levantine Arabic spoken by most Palestinians in Palestine, Israel and in the Palestinian diaspora. Together with Jordanian Arabic, it has the ISO 639-3 language code ...
, the meaning of Makhamra is "
winemakers
A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:
*Cooperating with viticulturists
*Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...
", an act
forbidden in Islam according to a common interpretation.
The Makhamra family has a tradition of descending from a
Jewish Arab tribe from
Khaybar
KhaybarOther standardized Arabic transliterations: / . Anglicized pronunciation: , . ( ar, خَيْبَر, ) is an oasis situated some north of the city of Medina in the Medina Province of Saudi Arabia. Prior to the rise of Islam in the 7t ...
who was expelled from the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...
.
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi ( he, יִצְחָק בֶּן־צְבִי ''Yitshak Ben-Tsvi''; 24 November 188423 April 1963) was a historian, Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist leader and the longest-serving President of Israel.
Biography
Born in Poltava in the ...
, a historian who later became the second
President of Israel
The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...
, visited Yatta during the 1920s and interviewed the village's
mukhtar
A mukhtar ( ar, مختار, mukhtār, chosen one; el, μουχτάρης) is a village chief in the Levant: "an old institution that goes back to the time of the Ottoman rule". According to Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman and Avi Melamed, the muk ...
, 'Ibn Aram. Ben-Zvi later wrote that the ancestor of three of the six clans that make up the village was Muheimar, a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
who came up from the desert with his tribe and conquered the village, probably in the second half of the 18th century.
Davar
''Davar'' ( he, דבר, lit. ''Word'') was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the British Mandate of Palestine and Israel between 1925 and May 1996.
It was relaunched in 2016, under the name ''Davar Rishon'' as an online outlet by th ...
reported in 1929 that members of the "Land of Israel Wandering Association" met with members of the family who confirmed their Jewish ancestry from Khaybar, "maybe 700 years ago". Several of them claimed they would not eat
camel meat
A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...
, which is forbidden in Judaism.
In 1938, Arab families from Yatta were reported to celebrate the Jewish holiday of
Hanukkah
or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem)
, nickname =
, observedby = Jews
, begins = 25 Kislev
, ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet
, celebrations = Lighting candles each night. ...
, lighting candles retrieved from the Jewish community of
Hebron
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
.
Several members of the Makhamra clan were interviewed for a
Channel 1 article about
Tzvi Misinai, a former high-tech entrepreneur, and admitted that they are aware of their Jewish origins, although today they consider themselves
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
for many generations since their ancestors converted to
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. Members of the clan are today reluctant to acknowledge their Jewish heritage, probably due to the fear that Israel will use that to support its claim for ownership over the land.
Recently, Makhamra clan members has been linked to
Palestinian terrorism
Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence perpetrated for political ends in relation to the State of Palestine or in connection with Palestinian nationalism. Common political objectives include self-determination in and sovereig ...
. On June 8, 2016, two members of the clan, Khaled Mahmara and Muhammad Mahamara,
carried out a shooting attack in
Sarona Market,
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, during which they killed four people.
Some writers have attributed that activity to their desire to show their neighbors that despite their "Jewish past", they are sided with the Palestinians in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israelis ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵלִים, translit=Yīśrāʾēlīm; ar, الإسرائيليين, translit=al-ʾIsrāʾīliyyin) are the citizens and nationals of the State of Israel. The country's populace is composed primarily of Jew ...
.
References
{{reflist
Arabic-language surnames
Palestinian families
Palestinian people of Jewish descent