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Amir Dromi (on right playing guitar) and Oran Benron are Jewish farmers from Israel who are searching the Taklamakan Desert for evidence that one of the Lost Tribes of Israel lived there. They are pictured here in Kashgar as they prepare to go into the desert. Photo: Doug Nairne

Israelis risk the 'Sea of Death' in search for lost kingdom

Doug Nairne

More than 2,500 years ago, ancient Jewish settlers dug the well that brings life to Amir Dromi's farm in the foothills outside Jerusalem. They cut stone blocks to build the home where Mr Dromi lives with his wife and seven children and terraced the hillsides where he grows olives and organic vegetables. He hopes to return these favours by finding out if their descendants disappeared into the sands of China's Taklamakan Desert 300 years ago.

'These people built my home and the farm we live on. They dug a well that has lasted thousands of years. Finding them would be a dream come true for us,' he said.

Mr Dromi and another farmer, Oran Benron, were dispatched to China by a group of Israeli rabbis who believe people from one of Israel's lost tribes ended up in Tibet or Xinjiang almost 2,000 years ago. Their belief is supported by records of strangely dressed Jewish traders appearing in Europe over the centuries saying they came from the east, along the ancient Silk Road which traverses Xinjiang, circling the Taklamakan.

In the 1700s - around the time Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) conquered Xinjiang - all contact with these mysterious Jews stopped. The Israeli rabbis hope Mr Dromi will find evidence of their kingdom, or perhaps even their descendants, hidden in the region.

'It is a Jewish custom to take care of people who are lost or in need,' said Mr Dromi. 'For me, that is a good enough reason to search.'

The task is daunting. Xinjiang sprawls over one-sixth of China and the 340,000 sq km Taklamakan is known locally as the 'Sea of Death' for its 70 degrees Celsius temperature swings between the blasting heat of summer and the frosty chill of winter. Less committed men would never have attempted such a search.

Armed only with a general description of the area in China the lost tribe migrated to, Mr Dromi does not know basic details of what he is looking for - such as the kingdom's name.

Xinjiang is also the heartland of Islam in China, which makes asking questions about lost ancient Jewish kingdoms awkward. Mr Dromi and Mr Benron were chosen for the search because they have travelled extensively in Islamic areas. Both men are deeply religious, which, ironically, they say provides a basis for mutual respect with the conservative Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang. 'I can tell that people are not totally there with us when we approach them, but I do not feel any hatred coming from them, either,' Mr Dromi said. 'I treat them with respect and they seem to respect us in return.'

Now on their second trip to China - having turned up nothing in Tibet during a visit there two years ago - Mr Dromi and Mr Benron will spend a month searching near the border city of Kashgar and the desert oasis of Hotan.

Their leads often come from older people who may have heard legends of the lost tribe, or seen communities that practise a form of Jewish customs, even if they have come to know the traditions by different names. But the leads most often turn out to be dead ends.

'There have been some moments of excitement, but no real evidence so far,' said Mr Dromi. 'Some people in Kashgar said, yes, they knew all about the Jews and if we wanted to see them, there were some staying at the hotel.'

Nanjing University Professor Wei Liangtao, who spent 25 years in Xinjiang, said it was unlikely that Jews would have been allowed to settle in the region during the time the Israelis think they arrived - and even if they did settle in China they would not have been allowed to live undisturbed for so long. 'At that time, there was no tolerance in Xinjiang for other religions. Even within Islam, different [factions] were all fighting with each other.'

The fate of the 10 lost tribes of Israel is one of the world's most debated mysteries. Many Jews believe the tribes are waiting to be reunited in Israel. They point to similarities between the traditions of the ancient Israelites and groups as varied as the Bnei Menashein in northeast India and Native Americans to support lost tribe theories.

The scattering of the Jews began in 722BC, when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and took the 10 tribes living there into captivity. The other two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, who lived in the southern kingdom of Judah, were forced into exile centuries later by the Romans and are the ancestors of modern Jews.

Mr Dromi believes some of the Jews taken by the Assyrians ended up in what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. When Islam began to spread in the region, some of the Jews were assimilated while others fled north into Tibet and Xinjiang. The lost tribe he seeks is believed to have set up a kingdom in a secluded valley and lived in isolation.

Raphael Israeli, an Israel-based academic and author who has studied the history of Jews in China, said there was documented evidence of Jews living on the Silk Road as far back as the 8th century. 'I'm very doubtful about what can be found in Xinjiang, but it's exciting and innovative that they are looking,' he said.

The idea of finding an undiscovered civilisation living in the Taklamakan's vast expanse of shifting sand is not as far-fetched as one might think. In 1990, an oil exploration team working in the Tarim Basin stumbled across a group of 200 ethnic Uygurs who had been isolated from the outside world for 350 years. Stories like this give hope to Mr Dromi and his backers.

Mr Dromi intends to keep searching until he has to return to Israel later this month. 'Maybe I won't find just remnants of a kingdom - maybe it is still there.'

 

 

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