Everything about Hebron totally explained
» This article is about the city in the Middle East. For other uses of the name, see Hebron (disambiguation).
Hebron (
Arabic: al-Ḫalīl or al Khalīl;
Hebrew:,
Standard Hebrew: Ḥevron,
Tiberian Hebrew: Ḥeḇrôn) is a city at the center of the
West Bank, along the eponymous
Mount Hebron. It is home to some 166,000
Palestinians and 700–800 Israeli settlers. Hebron lies 930
metres (3,050 ft)
above sea level. Located in the
Biblical region of
Judea, it's the second holiest city in
Judaism, after Jerusalem.
The name "Hebron" traces back to the same root as
Haver, or "friend". In Arabic, "Ibrahim al-Khalil" ("إبراهيم الخليل") means "Ibrahim the friend", signifying that, according to
Islamic teaching,
Allah (God) chose
Ibrahim (for example
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-Jebrini. 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, due to their traditional connections to
Abraham. According to
Genesis, he purchased the cave and the field surrounding it to bury his wife
Sarah, and subsequently Abraham
Isaac,
Rebekah,
Jacob and
Leah were also buried in the cave (the remaining
Matriarch,
Rachel, is
buried outside Bethlehem). For this reason, Hebron is also referred to as "the City of the Patriarchs" in Judaism, and it's the second of the
four holiest cities in Judaism (along with
Jerusalem,
Tiberias and
Safed). Over and around the cave itself
churches,
synagogues and
mosques have been built 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. In
medieval Christian tradition, Hebron was one of the three cities, the other two being
Juttah and
Ain Karim, that boasted of being the home of Mary's cousin,
Elizabeth, the mother of
John the Baptist and the wife of
Zacharias.
Adjacent to Hebron is the densely populated
Israeli settlement of
Kiryat Arba, a
separate municipality, but within several minutes walking distance from Hebron's
Cave of the Patriarchs.
History
Ancient period
Hebron was an old
Canaanite royal city before it became one of the most ancient cities of the
Kingdom of Judah. Archeological excavations reveal traces of strong fortifications datable to the Early
Bronze Age. The city was destroyed in a conflagration, and resettled in the late Middle Bronze Age. A cultic structure, with
cuneiform fragments listing animals to be sacrificed, is attested from this period. It is mentioned in the Bible as being the site of
Abraham's purchase of the
Cave of the Patriarchs from the
Hittites, in a narrative that some recent historians regard as constituting a late 'pious prehistory' of Israel's settlement. The Abrahamic traditions associated with Hebron are nomadic, and may reflect a
Kenite element, since the nomadic Kenites are said to have long occupied the city, and
Heber is the name for a Kenite clan. Hebron is also mentioned there as being formerly called
Kirjath-arba, or "city of four", possibly referring to a
federation of four townlets, or four hills, before being conquered by
Caleb and the
Israelites (
Joshua ). Hebron became one of the principal centers of the
Tribe of Judah, and the Judahite King
David reigned in the city until the capture of
Jerusalem, when the capital of the
Kingdom of Israel was moved to that city.
After 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 BCE.
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 CE which was later destroyed by the
Sassanid general
Shahrbaraz in
614 when
Khosrau II's armies besieged and took Jerusalem.
Medieval period
The
Islamic Caliphate established rule over Hebron without resistance in 638, and 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. During this period, Muslims converted the Byzantine church at the site of the
Cave of the Patriarchs into a mosque. Both Muslim and Christian sources note that
Umar allowed Jews to build a synagogue and burial ground nearby, while the 9th century
Karaite scholar
Zedakah ben Shomron wrote about a permanent Jewish presence and described a Jewish man as the "keeper of the cave". Arab geographer
al-Muqaddasi 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.
Arab rule lasted in the area, which was predominantly populated by peasants of various Christian persuasions, until 1099, when the Christian
Crusader
Godfrey de Bouillon took Hebron and renamed it "Castellion Saint Abraham". He then gave Hebron to
Gerard of Avesnes as the fief of Saint Abraham. Gerard of Avesnes was a knight from
Hainault held hostage at
Arsuf, north of
Jaffa, who had been wounded by Godfrey's own forces during the siege of the port, and later returned by the Muslims to Godfrey as a token of good will. As a
Frankish garrison, soon governed by
Tancred, Prince of Galilee, its defence was precarious, being 'little more than an island in a Moslem ocean'. The Crusaders converted the mosque and the synagogue into a church and expelled Jews living there. In 1106, an Egyptian campaign thrust into southern Palestine and almost succeeded in wresting back Hebron from the crusaders from
Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who personally led the counter-charge to beat the Muslim forces off. The
Damascene nobleman and historian
Ibn al-Qalanisi in his chronicle alludes at this time to the discovery of
relics purported to be those of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in this period, a discovery which excited eager curiosity among all three communities in Palestine, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian. 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 changed the name of the city back to "Hebron". A
Kurdish quarter still existed in the town during the early period of
Ottoman rule.
Richard the Lionheart subsequently took the city soon after.
Richard of Cornwell, brought from England to settle the dangerous feuding between
Templars and
Hospitallers, whose rivalry imperilled the treaty guaranteeing regional stability stipulated with the Egyptian
Sultan as-Salih Ayub, managed to impose peace on the area. But soon after his departure, feuding broke out and in
1241 the Templars mounted a damaging raid on what was, by now, Moslem Hebron, in violation of agreements.
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 up to a certain step outside the Eastern wall.
Sir John Mandeville wrote that the Jews and Christians were viewed "as dogs." 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
Volterra (1481) and Rabbi
Obadiah ben Abraham, 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 went and settled there. Hebron at this 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.
In 1834 Hebron was sacked by the army of
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt. Although property was destroyed and looted, most of the Muslim population is said to have been able to flee. Within the larger sacking there was a pogrom targeted at the city's Jews, five of whom were murdered. In 1841, the population of Hebron was given, according to the number of taxpayers, for example, male heads of households that owned even a very small shop or piece of land. There were two hundred Jews with "European protections", one Christian household, 41 Jewish households and 1,500 Muslim households, in a total population of 10,000.
Under the British mandate
In December 1917 and during
World War I, the British occupied Hebron. In the
1929 Hebron massacre, Arabs killed 67 Jews and wounded 60, and Jewish homes and synagogues were ransacked. 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 of Palestine until 1948.
Jordanian rule
Following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948,
Jordan took over the
control of Hebron and the rest of the West Bank. During this time, Israelis were not allowed to enter the West Bank. The Jewish Quarter was destroyed.
Israeli rule
After the June 1967
Six Day War Hebron came under Israeli control with the rest of the
West Bank.
In 1968, 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. Beginning in 1979, Jewish settlers moved from Kiryat Arba to found the
Committee of The Jewish Community of Hebron in the former Jewish neighbourhood near the
Abraham Avinu Synagogue, and later to other Hebron neighborhoods including
Tel Rumeida.
Post-Oslo Accord
Since early 1997, following the
Hebron Agreement, 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. 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.
In 1994, Israeli physician
Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims at prayer in the
Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, killing 29, before the survivors 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.
An international unarmed observer force—the
Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) was subsequently established to help the normalization of the situation and 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. TIPH came back to Hebron a few months later.
Demographics
Further Information
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