WikiPortallus: Hebron.html

The name "Hebron" traces back to the same root as Haver, or "friend"^[4] in both Hebrew and Arabic. In Arabic, "Ibrahim al-Khalil" ("إبراهيم الخليل") means "Ibrahim the friend", signifying that, according to Islamic teaching, Allah (God) chose Ibrahim (i.e. Abraham) as his friend.^[5]

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.^[8] 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.^[9] 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,^[10] and Heber is the name for a Kenite clan.^[11] 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,^[12] before being conquered by Caleb and the Israelites (Joshua 14:15). 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 in 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,^[13] 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.^[14] 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'.^[15] 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 in 1107 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.^[16] The cannons of St. Abraham having searched the crypt to locate the tombs of Patriarchs.^clarify^[17] 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 Saladin 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.^[19] Richard the Lionheart subsequently took the city soon after. Richard of Cornwall, 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.^[20]

In 1260, Baibars 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."^[21] 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.^[22] In 1841, the population of Hebron was given, according to the number of taxpayers, i.e., male heads of households that owned even a very small shop or piece of land. There were 200 Jews with "European protections", one Christian household, 41 Jewish households and 1,500 Muslim households, in a total population of 10,000.^[23] The Jewish community was under French protection until 1914. Hebron was highly conservative in its religious outlook, with a strong tradition of hostility to Jews.^[24]

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; 435 Jews survived by hiding with their Arab neighbours.^[25] 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". The sole exception was Ya'akov Ezra, who processed the city's dairy products, and resided in the city on weekdays. In November 1947, in anticipation of the UN partition vote, the Ezra family closed its shop and left the city.^[26] Hebron remained as a part of the British Mandate of Palestine until 1948.

Jordanian rule

At the beginning of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt and Jordan took control of Hebron. After the Egyptian forces were defeated by Israeli forces, the city fell exclusively under Jordanian rule and the West Bank was unilaterally incorporated into Jordan.

Israeli rule

After the June 1967 Six Day War Hebron came under Israeli control with the rest of the West Bank.

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.^[28] H2, which was inhabited by around 30,000 Palestinians,^[29] remained under Israeli military control in order to protect some 800-900 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 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.^[30]^[31]^[32]^[33]^[29]

The Hebron Jewish community has been subject to attacks by Palestinian militants since the Oslo agreement, especially during the period of the Second Intifada which saw 3 fatal stabbings and 9 fatal shootings (0.9% of all fatalities in Israel and the West Bank),^[34] and thousands of rounds fired on it from the hills above the Abu-Sneina and Harat al-Sheikh neighbourhoods. While the settler compound of Beit haddassah has been used as a firing point to shoot indiscriminately into Palestinian areas.^[35] 12 Israelis were killed (Hebron Brigade commander Colonel Dror Weinberg , 8 soldiers and 3 civilians, members of the civil defense unit of Kiryat Arba) in an ambush of Jewish settlers walking home from Sabbath prayers at the synagogue in the Cave of Machpelah, and of the policemen, security guards and soldiers who rushed to their rescue.^[36], Two Temporary International Presence in Hebron observers were killed by Palestinian gunmen in a shooting attack on the road to Hebron, Cengiz Soytunc (Turkish) and Catherine Berruex (Swiss).^[37]^[38]

On 25 February 1994, Israeli physician Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims at prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque, killing 29, before the survivors overcame and killed him. This event was condemned by the Israeli Government, and the extreme right-wing Kach party was banned as a result.^[39]

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.^[40]

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

Jewish settlement after 1967

In an interview with the BBC on July 12 of that year, Former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declared that, in the cause of peace, Israel should take nothing in the conquered territories, with the exception of Hebron, which 'is more Jewish even than Jerusalem'. According to Randolph Churchill, he argued that "Jerusalem became Jewish three thousand years ago under King David but Hebron became Jewish four thousand years ago under Abraham and included a number of settlements that were destroyed two days before Israel was established."^[44]

In 1968, a group of Jews led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger rented out the main hotel in Hebron, and then refused to leave. According to the American Jewish historian Ian Lustik:

They moved to a nearby abandoned army camp and established the settlement of Kiryat Arba. In 1979, Levinger's wife led 30 Jewish women to take over the former Hadassah Hospital, Daboya Hospital, now Beit Hadassah in central Hebron, founding the Committee of The Jewish Community of Hebron. Before long this received Israeli government approval and a further three Jewish enclaves in the city were established with army assistance,^{citation needed} and settlers are currently reported to be trying to purchase more homes in the city.^[45]^[46]

Jews living in these settlements and their supporters claim that they are resettling areas where Jews have lived since time immemorial.^{citation needed} However, some reports, both foreign and Israeli are sharply critical of the settlers.^[47]^[48]

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.^[49] Descendants supporting the latter views have met with Palestinian leaders in Hebron.^[50] The two most public examples of the descendants' views are the 1997 statement made by an association of some descendants dissociating themselves from the then-current Jewish settlers in Hebron and calling them an obstacle to peace,^[50] and the 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.^[49] Beit HaShalom, was established in 2007. [2] [3] [4] One of the purchasers is a descendant of Jews who fled Hebron during Arab massacres.^[51]

Israeli-Palestinian violence

The 1994 Shamgar Commission of Inquirery concluded that Israeli authorities have consistently failed to investigate or prosecute crimes committed by settlers against Palestinians. According to Human Rights Watch, the settler bias of the IDF was confirmed and clarified by Hebron commander Noam Tivon when he stated in an Ha'aretz article:

Tivon later suggested that, "Palestinian Authority is encouraging children to participate in clashes with the IDF by offering their families $300 per injury and $2,000 for anyone killed. He also said "the soldiers have acted with the utmost restraint and have not initiated any shooting attacks or violence."^[53]

On September 1988 Zein Moh’d Ghazi Karaki and Kayed Hassan Salah were shot to death.^[55]

On November 7, 1993, Efraim Ayubi of Kfar Darom, Rabbi Chaim Druckman's personal driver, was shot to death by terrorists near Hebron. HAMAS publicly claimed responsibility for the murder.^[56]

On December 6, 1993 Mordechai Lapid and his son Shalom Lapid, age 19, were shot to death by terrorists near Hebron. HAMAS publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.^[56]

On February 17, 1994, Yuval Golan, stabbed on December 29, 1993 by a terrorist near Adarim in the Hebron area, died of his wounds.^[56]

May 17 94 Rafael Yairi (Klumfenbert), 36, of Kiryat Arba, and Margalit Ruth Shohat, 48, of Ma'ale Levona, were killed when their car was fired upon by by terrorists in a passing car near Beit Haggai, south of Hebron.^[56]

Nov 27 94 Rabbi Amiran Olami, 34, of Otniel was killed near Beit Hagai 10 kms south of Hebron by shots fired from a passing car.^[56]

Mar 19 95 Nahum Hoss, 32, of Hebron and Yehuda Fartush, 41, of Kiryat Arba, were killed when terrorists fired on an Egged bus near the entrance to Hebron^[56]

On Saturday 30 September 1995 Yigal Amir (Yitzhak Rabin's assassin) is in a group of 20 Israeli who attacked Kathleen Kern and Wendy Lehman of Christian Peacemaker Team on Duboya Street.^[57]

Jan 16 96 Sgt. Yaniv Shimel and Major Oz Tibon, both of Jerusalem, were killed when terrorists fired on their car on the Hebron-Jerusalem road.^[56]

Aug 20 98 Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan, 63, was stabbed to death in the bedroom of his caravan in Hebron^[56]

Jan 13 99 Sergeant Yehoshua Gavriel, 25, of Ashdod, was killed when terrorists opened fire at the Othniel junction near Hebron.^[56]

20 October 2000 Jordanian citizen Walid J'afreh killed by IDF in Tarqumya, Hebron district^[58]

on 22 December 2000 Muhammad Najib ‘Abido, killed by gunfire at Beit Hagai, near Hebron.^[54]

Feb 1, 2001 - Dr. Shmuel Gillis, 42, of Karmei Tzur, was killed by Palestinian gunmen who fired at his car near the Aroub refugee camp on the Jerusalem-Hebron highway.^[56]

Mar 26, 2001 - Shalhevet Pass, age 10 months, was killed by sniper fire at the entrance to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood in Hebron.^[56]^[29]^[59]^[60]^[61]

On 19 July 2001 Muhammad Helmi a-Tameizi along with Diaa' Marwan a-Tameizi Under 1 year-old and Muhammad Salameh a-Tameizi was shot dead by settlers while driving by Idhna, Hebron district.^[62]

14 year old Nivin Jamjum was shot dead on 28 July 2002 in Hebron, when settlers rioted in Hebron.^[63]

On 17 May 2003 A pregnant Israeli woman and her husband were killed when a suicide bomber detonated himself next to them in a public square in Hebron. Hamas claimed responsibility.^[41]

On 9 September 2003 Thaer Monsur Noman al-Sayouri, aged 9, was killed by IDF tank fire to his head while in his home during an incursion in Hebron.^[64]

26 September 2003: Eyal Yeberbaum, 27, and 7-month old infant Shaked Avraham were shot dead by a Palestinian who knocked on the door of a home in Negohot, south of Hebron, during a celebratory Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year holiday) dinner. Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the attack.^[41]

In 2003 a company of Israeli border police was disbanded after an incident gained international notoriety where 2 border policemen beat a Palestinian and threw him from the back of the jeep which was traveling at approximately 80 kmph to celebrate their end of "tour of duty". In 2008 The 4 Israeli border guards involved in the incident were eventually convicted of the offences of falsifying records, robbery, abduction and the killing of Amran Abu Hamatiya. ^[65]^[66]^[67]

On 10 March 2004: Thaer Mohammad Harun Eid al-Halika, 15, of Shioukh al-Aroob, near Hebron, killed by IDF gunfire to his back at close range on his way home near Route 60.^[64]

25th April 2004 the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack in which killed Border Policeman Cpl. Yaniv Mashiah, 20, of Jaffa, and where three others were lightly wounded just an hour after the beginning of Memorial Day for Israel's fallen soldiers when shots were fired at their vehicle near Hebron.^[41]

The Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence, composed mostly of former soldiers, has documented abuses committed by Israeli soldiers guarding the Hebron settlers,^[68] while Mario Vargas Llosa has written that local Arabs are "subjected to systematic and ferocious harassment by settlers, who stone them, throw rubbish and excrement at their houses, invade and destroy their homes, and attack their children when they return from school, to the absolute indifference of Israeli soldiers who witness these atrocities."^[69]

The documentary Welcome to Hebron asserts that settlers often harass the local Palestinian population.^[70]^[71] In the film, a former commander of the Israeli army, one of the leading figures in Breaking The Silence, shared his experiences as a soldier in Hebron.

On 6 January 2005 Hamzah Abdul-Minem Jaber 9 years old, killed by an IDF jeep on the main road near his home in Hebron.^[64]

On 14 February 2005 after being beaten Sabri Fayez Younis al-Rjoub, 17, of Dura, near Hebron was killed by IDF gunfire to his chest, abdomen, pelvis and right leg.^[64]

On 21 January 2007 The Jewish settler Yifat Alkobi pressed her face while repeatedly hissing "sharmuta" – whore – at her married Palestinian neighbour, Abu Ayesha. A Video of Settler abusing Palestinians in Hebron received International media attention and her actions widely condemned. The Yad Vashem Council Chair slammed settlers for abusing Palestinians Yosef (Tommy) Lapid said in a weekly commentary on Israel Radio that the acts of some Hebron settlers reminded him of persecution endured by Jews in his native Yugoslavia on the eve of World War Two.

And where, according to testimony given by Taysir Abu Ayesha, Baruch Marzel broke into the house with 10 other settlers in the winter of 2002, beat him and attempted to drag him into the road before he was rescued by his stick-brandishing father.^[72]^[73]^[74]

On 8 June 2007 Hijazi Muhammad Abdul-Aziz Rzaiqat, 17, of Taffouh, near Hebron, shot to death by IDF gunfire to his chest, abdomen, left shoulder and right thigh while hunting birds with a gun.^[64]

on 3 July 2007 Ahmad Abdul-Muhsen Abdul-Rahim al-Skafi, 15, of Hebron, killed by IDF gunfire to his head while carrying a toy gun.^[64]

on 02 May 2008 Khalil Ahmad Mahmoud a-Za'arir was killed after attempting to stab a soldiers at a Hebron checkpoint.^[64]

13th February 2008 the 15 month prison sentence and reduction to the rank of private of Lieutenant Ya'akov Gigi was confirmed for a "wild rampage" in the West Bank where Gigi and five of his soldiers hijacked a Palestinian taxi in July 2007 in the West Bank village of Dahariya, near Hebron. The version of events that Gigi gave was found to be false. First Sergeant Dror, who shot a Palestinian in the neck severely wounding him claims that the way the Palestinian looked at him was enough to classify him as a "suspect" and to justify opening fire.^[75]

In February 2008 the IDF ordered an orphanage run by the Islamic Charitable Society (ICS), that houses 240 orphans, in Hebron closed, based on the ICS's alleged promotion of terrorism. The ICS disputes these charges. ^[76]^[77]^[78]

In August 2008 Hebron settlers attacked a group of visiting UK diplomats.^[79] Breaking the Silence only take small parties so as not to constitute a "group" as settlers regularly attacked "Breaking the Silence" tours.^[80]

Cultural, historical and sporting landmarks

Adjacent to the municipality building, the Hebron archaeological museum has a collection of artifacts from the Canaanite to the Islamic periods. The Oak Of Abraham, also called Oak of Mamre, is an ancient oak tree which marks the place where, according to tradition, Abraham pitched his tent. It is estimated that this oak is approximately 5,000 years old. The Russian Orthodox Church owns the site and the nearby monastery. Other notable sites are The Well of Abraham and the tombs of Abner ben Ner (the commander of Saul and David's army), Ruth and Jesse.

Languages and accents

Palestinian Hebronites are known amongst the Levant for their distinguished colloquial Arabic accent. Hebronites speak while stretching their words giving it a long musical sound.

Notable people relating to Hebron

Hebron.html

Contents