Hebron is a Palestinian city located in the south of the West Bank, 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is situated in the Judean mountains, 930 meters above sea level. The Hebrew word Hebron is derived from the Hebrew word for friend (who has), a description of the patriarch Abraham. The Arabic Al-Khalil, literally “the friend”, also refers to Abraham (Ibrahim), whom Muslims similarly describe as the friend of God.
Hebron is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in the world and has been an important focus of religious worship for more than two millennia. The old city of Hebron might be unsafe at night due to the political and security situation in that particular area. If you want to stay longer in Hebron, or in Palestine in general, you can find an apartment online (in Arabic) through the most popular website in Palestine (shobiddak min falastine i). Despite its poverty, the community managed, in 1807, to buy a plot of land of 5 dunams in which the city sells wholesale, and this market remains today. This is because Hebron is the site of the tomb of Abraham, the great prophet and epic father of the Arab and Jewish peoples. After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the invasion of Arab armies, Hebron was captured and occupied by the Jordanian Arab Legion.
Jews lived in Hebron continuously during the Byzantine, Arab, Mamluk and Ottoman periods, until 1929 when an Arab pogrom forced them to flee. Then, after the 1967 war, some Jewish settlers returned to Hebron on Passover and decided to renew their lives in what used to be the Jewish neighborhood of Hebron until 1929. If you want to access the main metropolitan area of Hebron, you can take a taxi served from the bus stations in Ramallah or Bethlehem. Today, with about 250,000 people, Hebron is the largest Palestinian city and commercial capital of the West Bank. Other findings include a four-chambered house, jars with ancient Hebrew inscriptions with the words “to the king of Hebron” and a section of the city wall. During the Turkish period (1517-191), groups of Jews from other parts of the Land of Israel and diaspora moved to Hebron, joining the existing community.
This made it a renowned rabbinical center. Local administration and services for the Jewish community in Hebron are provided by the Hebron Municipal Committee, created by Ministries of Defense and Interior. Currently, about 500 Israeli settlers live in a part of old city Hebron under continuous IDF protection. If you want to buy souvenirs from Holy Land, you can visit Old City district near Mosque of Abraham. Here you will find items that are unique to this region.
Leave Message