Hebron

Hebron الخليل al-Khalil
Downtown Hebron.
Nickname: "[Abraham] the friend"
Hebron is located in the southern West Bank
Hebron Governorate	Palestinian National Authority
Territory	West Bank
Government
- Type	City
- Mayor	Mustafa Abdel Nabi
Elevation	930 m (3,051 ft)
Population
- Total	120,800

Hebron (Arabic: al-Ḫalīl or al Khalīl; Hebrew: , Standard Hebrew: Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew: Ḥeḇrôn) is a city in the southern Judea region of the West Bank. It is home to some 120,000 Palestinians and 600-800 Israeli settlers and another 7,000 Israelis live in the suburb of Qiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron. Hebron lies 3,050 feet (930 m) above sea level. For Jews it is their second holiest city in the world, after Jerusalem.

The name "Hebron" derives from the Hebrew name for the city, which ultimately comes from חבר (habar 598), meaning "to be joined, coupled, allied." The name "Hebron" traces back to the same root as "Heber." In Arabic, "إبراهيم الخليل" means "Ibrahim the friend," signifying that, according to Islamic teaching, Allah (God) chose Ibrahim (Abraham) as his friend.

Hebron is located 30 km south of Jerusalem. It is famous for its grapes, limestone, pottery workshops and glassblowing factories. It is also the location of the major dairy-product manufacturer, Al-Juneidi. The old city of Hebron is characterized by narrow, winding streets, flat-roofed stone houses, and old bazaars. It is home to Hebron University and the Palestine Polytechnic University.

The most famous historic site in Hebron sits on the Cave of the Patriarchs. The site is holy to all three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to Genesis, Abraham purchased the cave and the field surrounding it to bury his wife Sarah, and Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah are buried in the cave (the remaining Matriarch, Rachel, is buried outside Bethlehem). For this reason, Jews also call the city "the City of the Patriachs," and it is the second of the four holiest cities in Judaism (along with Jerusalem, Tiberias and Tzfat). The cave itelf is the second holiest site in Judaism, and churches, synagogues and mosques have been built there throughout history (see "History" below). The Isaac Hall is now the Ibrahimi Mosque, while the Abraham Hall and Jacob Hall serve as a Jewish synagogue.

Also located near Hebron is the urban Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, which is home to approximately 7,000 Israelis and is considered by Israel to be a part of "greater Hebron".

History

Ancient period

File:Cave of the Patriarchs.jpg

The Cave of the Patriarchs, revered by Jews and Muslims.

Hebron is one of the most ancient cities in the Middle East, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Hebron was an ancient Canaanite royal city, which according to archaeological findings was probably founded in the 35th century B.C.E., and mentioned in the Bible as existing during the 18th century B.C.E.

Abraham purchased the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron as a burial place for his wife, Sarah, from Ephron the Hittite (Genesis 23). This eventually became the burial place not only for Sarah, but also for Abraham, Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and Jacob and his wife Leah. This site is now known as Cave of the Patriarchs and, according to Midrashic sources it also contains the head of Esau, and to Islamic sources, is also the tomb of Joseph, son of Jacob.

Hebron is mentioned as being formerly called Kiryat Arba, Kirjath-arba or Qiryat Arba' (Hebrew meaning “City of the Four”), before being conquered by Joshua and the Israelites (Joshua 14).

Hebron became one of the principal centers of the Tribe of Judah. The Judahite David was commanded by God to go to Hebron. He was annointed king there and reigned in the city until the capture of Jerusalem, when the capital of the Kingdom of Israel was moved to that city (II Samuel 2–5). Jar handle stamps bearing Hebrew letters (LMLK seals) dating from 700 B.C.E., the oldest known inscription naming the city, have been found in Hebron.

Following the destruction of the First Temple, most of the Jewish inhabitants of Hebron were exiled and their place was taken by Edomites at about 587 B.C.E. Herod the Great built the wall which still surrounds the Cave of Machpelah. During the first war against the Romans, Hebron was conquered by Simon Bar Giora, the leader of the Sicarii. Eventually it became part of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I erected a Christian church over the Cave of Machpelah in the 6th century C.E. which was later destroyed by the Sassanids.

Medieval period

The Islamic Caliphate established rule over Hebron without resistance in 638. During this period, Muslims converted the Byzantine church at the site of Abraham's tomb into a mosque. Trade greatly expanded, in particular with bedouins in the Negev and the population to the east of the Dead Sea. Both Muslim and Christian sources note that Umar allowed Jews to build a synagogue and burial ground near the Cave of Machpelah. In the 9th century, Zedakah b. Shomron, a Karaite scholar, wrote about a permanent Jewish presence, and a Jewish man was described as the "keeper of the cave". El Makdesi, an Arab historian, described "a synagogue and central kitchen which the Jews had set up for all the pilgrims rich and poor" at the turn of the century.

Maimonides established a yearly holiday for himself and his sons, the 9th of Cheshvan, commemorating the day he merited to pray at the Cave of the Patriarchs.

Arab rule lasted until 1099, when the Christian Crusader Godfrey de Bouillon took Hebron in 1099 and renamed it "Castellion Saint Abraham". The Crusaders converted the mosque and the synagogue into a church and expelled the Jews living there. Towards the end of the period of Crusader rule, in 1166 Maimonides was able to visit Hebron and wrote,

"And on the first day of the week, the ninth day of the month of Marheshvan, I left Jerusalem for Hebron to kiss the graves of my forefathers in the Cave of Makhpela. And on that very day, I stood in the cave and I prayed, praised be God for everything."

The Kurdish Muslim Salaḥ ed-Dīn took Hebron in 1187, and re-named the city "Hebron". Richard the Lionheart subsequently took the city soon after.

In 1260, al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari established Mamluk rule; the minarets were built onto the structure of the Cave of Machpelah/Ibrahami Mosque at that time. During this period, a small Jewish community continued to live in Hebron; however, the climate was less tolerant of Jews and Christians than it had been under prior Islamic rule. Jews wishing to visit the tomb were often taxed, and in 1266 a decree was established barring Jews and Christians from entering the Tomb of the Patriarchs; they were only allowed to climb partway up the steps outside the Eastern wall.

Many Jewish and Christian visitors wrote about the community, among them a student of Nachmanides (1270), Rabbi Ishtori Haparchi (1322), Stephen von Gumfenberg (1449), Rabbi Meshulam from Voltara (1481) and Rabbi Ovadia mi Bertinoro, a famous biblical commentator (1489). As early as 1333, there was an account from Hakham Yishak Hilo of Larissa, Greece, who arrived in Hebron and observed Jews working in the cotton trade and glassworks. He noted that in Hebron there was an "ancient synagogue in which they prayed day and night."

Ottoman rule

Throughout the Ottoman Empire rule, (1517-1917), groups of Jews from other parts of the Holy Land, and exiles from Spain and other parts of the diaspora settled in Hebron. The city at that time became a center of Jewish learning. In 1540 Rabbi Malkiel Ashkenazi bought a courtyard and established the Abraham Avinu Synagogue. In 1807, the Jewish community purchased a 5 dunam (5,000 m²) plot upon which the city's wholesale market stands today. Another pogrom took place in 1834. In 1831, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt took over Hebron until 1840.

Under the British mandate

Early in the twentieth century, Hebron was predominately a Muslim Arab city with a Jewish community of about 750. In December 1917 and during World War I, Great Britain occupied Hebron.

On August 20, 1929, after Arab attacks in Jerusalem, Haganah leaders proposed to provide defense for the Jews of the Yishuv in Hebron, or to help them evacuate. However, the leaders of the Hebron community declined these offers, insisting that they trusted the A'yan (Arab notables) to protect them.

The following Friday, August 23, inflamed by rumors that Jews were about to attack al-Aqsa Mosque, Arabs began attacking Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem. The rumors and subsequent violence quickly spread to other parts of Palestine, with the worst killings occurring in Hebron and Safed. Other murderous assaults took place in Motza, Kfar Uriyah, and Tel Aviv.

In Hebron, sixty Jews were wounded while 67 were killed. Eight others died later from wounds suffered during what became known as the Arab riots of 1929. Jewish homes and synagogues were ransacked. Most of the remaining Jewish community left the city. Two years later, 35 families moved back into the ruins of the Jewish quarter, but after further riots, the British Government decided to move all Jews out of Hebron "to prevent another massacre".

Hebron remained as a part of the British mandate until 1948.

Jordanian rule

King Hussein of Jordan. Jordan ruled the West Bank from 1948 until June 1967.

Following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were ruled by Jordan for a period of nearly two decades, from 1948 until the 1967 Six-Day War. Rather than attempting to establish an independent Palestinian state for its West Bank subjects, Jordan formally annexed East Jerusalem and the West Bank on April 24, 1950, giving all resident Palestinians automatic Jordanian citizenship.

Only the United Kingdom and Pakistan formally recognized the annexation of the West Bank, de facto in the case of East Jerusalem.

Tensions continued between Jordan and Israel through the early fifties, with Palestinian guerrillas and Israeli commandos crossing the Green Line despite the Jordanian army's efforts to prevent both occurrences. The Qibya massacre, in which an Israeli commando unit killed 50 civilians within the West Bank in retaliation for Palestinian infiltrators' killing of three Israeli civilians, is one of the best known examples.

Israeli rule and Jewish settlement

Following the Six Day War, in June 1967, the rule of Hebron changed from Jordanian to Israeli hands. In 1969, a group of Jewish settlers began to reside in the city, though a government compromise soon focused the Jewish presence to the east in the new settlement of Kiryat Arba. Soon after the war, a group of Jews led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger had rented the main hotel in Hebron and refused to leave. They later moved to a nearby abandoned army camp and established the settlement of Kiryat Arba.

In 1979, Levinger's wife led 30 Jewish women in the take–over of the former Hadassah Hospital, Daboya Hospital, now Beit Hadassah in central Hebron, founding the Committee of The Jewish Community of Hebron. This settlement in the former Jewish neighborhood near the Abraham Avinu Synagogue, led to other neighborhoods including Tel Rumeida. Three Jewish enclaves were established in the city with army assistance.

Star of David carved above entrance to an Arab home in the old city of Hebron.

Jews living in these settlements and their supporters claim that they are resettling areas where Jews have lived since time immemorial, for example citing the Star of David carved into the keystone above some of the doorways of Arab populated homes in the old city. However, some reports, both foreign and Israeli, are sharply critical of the settlers.

The sentiments of Jews who fled the 1929 Hebron massacre and their descendants are mixed. Some advocate the continued settlement of Hebron as a way to continue the Jewish heritage in the city, while others suggest that settlers should try to live in peace with the Arabs there, with some even recommending the complete pullout of all settlers in Hebron. Descendants supporting the latter views have met with Palestinian leaders in Hebron. The two most public examples of the descendants' views are the 1997 statement made by an association comprised of some descendants dissociating themselves from the then-current Jewish settlers in Hebron and calling them an obstacle to peace. The second is a May 15, 2006 letter sent to the Israeli government by other descendants urging the government to continue its support of Jewish settlement in Hebron in their names, and urged it to allow the return of eight Jewish families evacuated the previous January from the homes they set up in empty shops near the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.

Peace Accords

Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat during the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993.

The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles, were finalized in Oslo, Norway on August 20, 1993, and subsequently officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington D.C. on September 13, 1993, with Yasser Arafat signing for the Palestine Liberation Organization and Shimon Peres signing for the State of Israel. US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev were also present.

The Accords were a culmination of a series of both secret and public agreements, dating particularly from the Madrid Conference of 1991 onward, and negotiated between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (acting as representatives of the Palestinian people) in 1993 as part of the peace process attempting to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Related to the Oslo Accords were a series of further diplomatic accords. One of these, the Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron, also known as The Hebron Protocol or Hebron Agreement, took place in January 1997 between Israel, represented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the PLO, represented by Chairman Yasser Arafat. Supervised by US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, they were an agreement for redeployment of Israeli military forces in Hebron in accordance with the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (the Interim Agreement or "Oslo II") of September 1995.

The Hebron Protocol represented significant gains for the Palestinians. Prime Minister Netanyahu betrayed some of his supporters in his Likud party. In reality the Likud was endorsing the notion of "land for peace". The Israelis did gain from the agreement, in the details of the redeployment arrangements and in the right of Jewish settlers to remain in Hebron. Israel did not obtain control of the redeployment's scope, notwithstanding American reassurance.

Agreement on the Temporary International Presence in Hebron

The Hebron protocol brought in the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH). This is understood to have been in response to the Israeli terrorist Dr. Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinian worshipers in Hebron three years earlier (1994). Thus the Israelis agreed to the Palestinian demand for an outside observer in Hebron. The Interim Agreement had provided that as part of the redeployment of Israeli military forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, there would be the establishment of a Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH). During the period between the conclusion of the Interim Agreement and the Hebron Protocol, the two sides invited Norway to send a group of 50-60 Norwegians to act as an "advance TIPH" preparing for the new TIPH to be established following the redeployment. Under an Agreement dated May 9, 1996, the Norwegian personnel arrived and commenced their operation. When the Hebron negotiations were completed and signed, it also provided that the TIPH would consist of up to 180 persons from Norway, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey, with Norway being responsible for the coordination of the TIPH's activity.

The task of the TIPH was to monitor and report on efforts to maintain normal life in Hebron, to provide a feeling of security among the Palestinians of the city and to help promote stability. In addition, the TIPH personnel were to assist in the promotion and execution of projects, to encourage economic development and growth in the city and to provide reports. The TIPH had no military or police functions.

Post Oslo Accord

File:Idf soldiers in hebron 2000.jpg

Israeli Police and Army personnel in Hebron during the Second Intifada, November 2000.

The mostly deserted market in the old city.

File:Palestinian boys hebron 2000.jpg

Palestinian youths hurl stones at Israeli soldiers in Hebron, November 2000.

Since early 1997 the city has been divided into two sectors: H1 and H2. The H1 sector, home to around 120,000 Palestinians, came under the control of the Palestinian Authority, in accordance with Hebron Protocol. H2, which was inhabited by around 30,000 Palestinians, remained under Israeli military control in order to protect some 600-800 Jewish residents living in the old Jewish quarter, now an enclave near the center of the town. During the years since the outbreak of the Second Intifada, the Palestinian population in H2 has decreased greatly, the drop in large part having been identified with extended curfews and movement restrictions placed on Palestinian residents of the sector by the IDF for what it says are security needs, including the closing of Palestinian shops in certain areas. Settler harassment of their Palestinian neighbours in H2 was a reason for several dozen Palestinian families to depart the areas adjacent to the Israeli population.

The Hebron Jewish community has been subject to many attacks by Palestinian militants since the Oslo agreement, especially during the period of the Second Intifada which saw suicide bombings, stabbings, and thousands of rounds fired on it from the Abu-Sneina neighbourhood above it. 12 Israelis were killed in one ambush of worshippers on the way to the Cave of the Patriarchs, while an infant was killed in a sniper attack. Two Temporary International Presence in Hebron observers were killed by Palestinian gunmen in a shooting attack on the road to Hebron.

Funds from Arab nations earmarked for the reconstruction of homes in Hebron destroyed by Israeli bulldozers during the Second Intifada was reported to have reached PA leaders close to Yasser Arafat rather than the intended recipients.

In 1994, a Jewish doctor Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims at prayer in the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, killing 29, before the mob overtook and killed him. This event was condemned by the Israeli Government, and the extreme right-wing Kach party was banned as a result.

A year later, Hebron's mayor, Mustafa Abdel Nabi, invited the Christian Peacemaker Teams to assist the local Palestinian community in opposition to what they describe as Israeli military occupation, collective punishment, settler harassment, home demolitions and land confiscation. They have maintained a presence in the community despite attacks against them, the most noted being in 2004 when two corps members, Kimberly Lamberty and Christopher Brown were attacked while walking Palestinian Children to school.

The UN subsequently established an international unarmed observer force—the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) to maintain a buffer between the Palestinian Arab population of the city and the Jews residing in their enclave in the old city. On February 8, 2006, TIPH temporarily left Hebron after attacks on their headquarters by some Palestinians angered by the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.

Sources and Further reading

• Hebron Historical Society (Hebron, Conn.). 2004. Hebron. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. ISBN 0738536431 and ISBN 9780738536439
• Gish, Arthur G. 2001. Hebron journal stories of nonviolent peacemaking. Scottdale, Pa: Herald Press. ISBN 0836191684 and ISBN 9780836191684
• Leavitt, June O. 2002. Storm of terror a Hebron mother's diary. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. ISBN 1566634679 and ISBN 9781566634670
• Lewin, Ariel. 2005. The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. ISBN 0892368004 and ISBN 9780892368006

External Links

• Virtual Israel Experience. Hebron. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
• CRW Flags. Har Hebron (Israel, Judea and Samaria/West Bank Occupied Territories). Retrieved October 22, 2007.
• Pasko, Ariel Natan. May 28, 2003. Jerusalemizing Hebron. Arutz Sheva. Retrieved October 22, 2007.

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