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Revision as of 08:13, 16 July 2002
Hebron (Arabic: Al Khalil) is a town on the West Bank of the River Jordan.
As of 1990, the estimated population is 80,000. Since early 1997 most of the town has been controlled by the Palestinian National Authority, in accordance with the Hebron accords (signed by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu). An interational unarmed observer force - TIPH (The International Presence in Hebron) is responsible for bringing the Israeli side (which is in control of the Jewish quarter in Hebron) and the Palestinians. In March of 2002, two TIPH observers were killed by Palestinian gunmen wearing Palestinian police uniforms.
Hebron is one of most ancient cities in the Middle East, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Hebron was probably founded in the 18th century BC. It is mentioned numerous times in the Bible. In particular, a cave near it, called the "Cave of the Patriarchs" (Hebrew: "ma'arat ha-machpela"), is traditionaly considered the place where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah are buried. This cave is considered holy by both Jews and Muslims, and is site of both a Jewish shrine and a mosque.
All throughout the history of Palestine, there was a significant Jewish presence in Hebron (which was one of the four "sacred communities" - ancient cities which were sites of Jewish religious activity). This was all interrupted in one day, on August 1, 1929, when an Arab mob lynched 59 Jews and made all others flee. For 28 years, there were no more Jews in Hebron and the Jewish worship in the town was stopped. Following the Six-Day War of 1967, a group of Jews (many of them owners of property taken away from them or their families in 1929), led by Rabbi Moshe Levenger returned to Hebron and renewed the Jewish presence there.
On February 26, 1994, one of the settlers in Hebron, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, shot and killed 29 Palestinians while they were praying in the Hebron mosque. The Israeli government, as well as the vast majority of the Israeli and settler public strongly condemned this atrocity. However, extremists from Israel and abroad (in particular belonging to the right-wing Kakh movement) continue to pay homage at his grave in the nearby Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, where a marble plaque reads: "To the holy Baruch Goldstein, who gave his life for the Jewish people, the Torah and the nation of Israel". Several attempts to attack Arabs by other extremists were thwarted by Israeli security forces in the years following the attack.
Geographic coordinates : 31 32N 35 06E
Links:
- Daily Bible study - Hebron
- 1929 Massacre homepage
- 1994 Massacre homepage
- Background to 1994 massacre
Hebron is also a place in Kentucky, United States of America: see Hebron, Kentucky