Hebron

Archaeological excavations reveal traces of strong fortifications dated to the Early Bronze Age, covering some 24–30 dunams centered around Tel Rumeida. The city flourished in the 17th–18th centuries BCE before being destroyed by fire, and was resettled in the late Middle Bronze Age.[32][33] This older Hebron was originally a Canaanite royal city.[34] Abrahamic legend associates the city with the Hittites. It has been conjectured that Hebron might have been the capital of Shuwardata of Gath, an Indo-European (Canaanite) contemporary of Jerusalem's regent, Abdi-Kheba,[35] although the Hebron hills were almost devoid of settlements in the Late Bronze Age.[36] The Abrahamic traditions associated with Hebron are nomadic. This may also reflect a Kenite element, since the nomadic Kenites are said to have long occupied the city,[37] and Heber is the name for a Kenite clan.[38] In the narrative of the later Hebrew conquest, Hebron was one of two centres under Canaanite control. They were ruled by the three sons of Anak (b^enê/y^elîdê hā'ănaq).[39] or may reflect some Kenite and Kenizzite migration from the Negev to Hebron, since terms related to the Kenizzites appear to be close to Hurrian. This suggests that behind the Anakim legend lies some early Hurrian population.[40] In Biblical lore they are represented as descendants of the Nephilim.[41] The Book of Genesis mentions that it was formerly called Kirjath-arba, or "city of four", possibly referring to the four pairs or couples who were buried there, or four tribes, or four quarters,[42] four hills,[43] or a confederated settlement of four families.[44]

The story of Abraham's purchase of the Cave of the Patriarchs from the Hittites constitutes a seminal element in what was to become the Jewish attachment to the land[45] in that it signified the first "real estate" of Israel long before the conquest under Joshua.[46] In settling here, Abraham is described as making his first covenant, an alliance with two local Amorite clans who became his ba’alei brit or masters of the covenant.[47]

Excavations at Tel Rumeida

The Hebron of the Israelites was centered on what is now known as Tel Rumeida, while its ritual centre was located at Elonei Mamre.[48]

Samson removes gates of Gaza (left) and brings them to Mount Hebron (right). Strassburg (1160–1170), Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart

It is said to have been wrested from the Canaanites by either Joshua, who is said to have wiped out all of its previous inhabitants, "destroying everything that drew breath, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded",[49] or the Tribe of Judah as a whole, or specifically Caleb the Judahite.[50] The town itself, with some contiguous pasture land, is then said to have been granted to the Levites of the clan of Kohath, while the fields of the city, as well as its surrounding villages were assigned to Caleb (Joshua 21:3–12; 1 Chronicles 6:54–56),[51] who expels the three giants, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, who ruled the city. Later, the biblical narrative has King David called by God to relocate to Hebron and reign from there for some seven years (2 Samuel 2:1–3).[52] It is there that the elders of Israel come to him to make a covenant before Elohim and anoint him king of Israel.[53] It was in Hebron again that Absalom has himself declared king and then raises a revolt against his father David (2 Samuel 15:7–10). It became one of the principal centers of the Tribe of Judah and was classified as one of the six traditional Cities of Refuge.[54]

As is shown by the discovery at Lachish, the second most important city in the Kingdom of Judah after Jerusalem,[55] of seals with the inscription lmlk Hebron (to the king Hebron),[31] Hebron continued to constitute an important local economic centre, given its strategic position on the crossroads between the Dead Sea to the east, Jerusalem to the north, the Negev and Egypt to the south, and the Shepelah and the coastal plain to the west.[56] Lying along trading routes, it remained administratively and politically dependent on Jerusalem for this period.[57]

After the destruction of the First Temple, most of the Jewish inhabitants of Hebron were exiled, and according to the conventional view,[58] some researchers found traces of Edomite presence after the 5th–4th centuries BCE, as the area became Achaemenid province,[59] and, in the wake of Alexander the Great's conquest, Hebron was throughout the Hellenistic period under the influence of Idumea (as the new area inhabited by the Edomites was called during the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman periods), as is attested by inscriptions for that period bearing names with the Edomite God Qōs.[60] Jews also appear to have lived there after the return from the Babylonian exile (Nehemiah 11:25). During the Maccabean revolt, Hebron was burnt and plundered by Judah Maccabee who fought against the Edomites in 167 BCE.[61][62] The city appears to have long resisted Hasmonean dominance, however, and indeed as late as the First Jewish–Roman War was still considered Idumean.[63]

The present day city of Hebron was settled in the valley downhill from Tel Rumeida at the latest by Roman times.[64]

Cave of the Patriarchs

Herod the Great, king of Judea, built the wall which still surrounds the Cave of the Patriarchs. During the First Jewish–Roman War, Hebron was captured and plundered by Simon Bar Giora, a leader of the Zealots, without bloodshed. The "little town" was later laid to waste by Vespasian's officer Sextus Vettulenus Cerialis.[65] Josephus wrote that he "slew all he found there, young and old, and burnt down the town." After the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, innumerable Jewish captives were sold into slavery at Hebron's Terebinth slave-market.[66][67]

The city was part of the Byzantine Empire in Palaestina Prima province at the Diocese of the East. 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.[68] Jews were not permitted to reside in Hebron under Byzantine rule.[15] The sanctuary itself however was spared by the Persians, in deference to the Jewish population, who were numerous in the Sassanid army.[69]

Hebron was one of the last cities of Palestine to fall to the Islamic invasion in the 7th century, possibly the reason why Hebron is not mentioned in any traditions of the Arab conquest.[70] When the Rashidun Caliphate established its rule over Hebron in 638, the Muslims converted the Byzantine church at the site of Abraham's tomb into a mosque.[15] It became an important station on the caravan trading route from Egypt, and also as a way-station for pilgrims making the yearly hajj from Damascus.[71] After the fall of the city, Jerusalem's conqueror, Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab permitted Jewish people to return and to construct a small synagogue within the Herodian precinct.[72]

Catholic bishop Arculf, who visited the Holy Land during the Umayyad period, described the city as unfortified and poor. In his writings he also mentioned camel caravans transporting firewood from Hebron to Jerusalem, which implies there was a presence of Arab nomads in the region at that time.[73] Trade greatly expanded, in particular with Bedouins in the Negev (al-Naqab) and the population to the east of the Dead Sea (Baḥr Lūṭ). According to Anton Kisa, Jews from Hebron (and Tyre) founded the Venetian glass industry in the 9th century.[74]

Islam did not view the town as significant before the 10th century, it being almost absent in Muslim literature of the period.[75] Jerusalemite geographer al-Muqaddasi, writing in 985 described the town as follows:

Habra (Hebron) is the village of Abraham al-Khalil (the Friend of God)...Within it is a strong fortress...being of enormous squared stones. In the middle of this stands a dome of stone, built in Islamic times, over the sepulchre of Abraham. The tomb of Isaac lies forward, in the main building of the mosque, the tomb of Jacob to the rear; facing each prophet lies his wife. The enclosure has been converted into a mosque, and built around it are rest houses for the pilgrims, so that they adjoin the main edifice on all sides. A small water conduit has been conducted to them. All the countryside around this town for about half a stage has villages in every direction, with vineyards and grounds producing grapes and apples called Jabal Nahra...being fruit of unsurpassed excellence...Much of this fruit is dried, and sent to Egypt. In Hebron is a public guest house continuously open, with a cook, a baker and servants in regular attendance. These offer a dish of lentils and olive oil to every poor person who arrives, and it is set before the rich, too, should they wish to partake. Most men express the opinion this is a continuation of the guest house of Abraham, however, it is, in fact from the bequest of the sahaba (companion) of the prophet Muhammad Tamim-al Dari and others.... The Amir of Khurasan...has assigned to this charity one thousand dirhams yearly, ...al-Shar al-Adil bestowed on it a substantial bequest. At present time I do not know in all the realm of al-Islam any house of hospitality and charity more excellent than this one.[76]

The custom, known as the 'table of Abraham' (simāt al-khalil), was similar to the one established by the Fatimids, and in Hebron's version, it found its most famous expression. The Persian traveller Nasir-i-Khusraw who visited Hebron in 1047 records in his Safarnama that

... this Sanctuary has belonging to it very many villages that provide revenues for pious purposes. At one of these villages is a spring, where water flows out from under a stone, but in no great abundance; and it is conducted by a channel, cut in the ground, to a place outside the town (of Hebron), where they have constructed a covered tank for collecting the water...The Sanctuary (Mashad), stands on the southern border of the town....it is enclosed by four walls. The Mihrab (or niche) and the Maksurah (or enclosed space for Friday prayers) stand in the width of the building (at the south end). In the Maksurah are many fine Mihrabs.[77] He further recorded that "They grow at Hebron for the most part barley, wheat being rare, but olives are in abundance. The [visitors] are given bread and olives. There are very many mills here, worked by oxen and mules, that all day long grind the flour, and further, there are working girls who, during the whole day are baking bread. The loaves are [about three pounds] and to every persons who arrives they give daily a loaf of bread, and a dish of lentils cooked in olive-oil, also some raisins....there are some days when as many as five hundred pilgrims arrive, to each of whom this hospitality is offered."[78][79]

Geniza documents from this period refer only to "the graves of the patriarchs" and reveal there was an organised Jewish community in Hebron who had a synagogue near the tomb, and were occupied with accommodating Jewish pilgrims and merchants. During the Seljuk period, the community was headed by Saadia b. Abraham b. Nathan, who was known as the "haver of the graves of the patriarchs."[80]

The Caliphate lasted in the area until 1099, when the Christian Crusader Godfrey de Bouillon took Hebron and renamed it "Castellion Saint Abraham".[81] It was designated capital of the southern district of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem[82] and given, in turn,[83] as the fief of Saint Abraham, to Geldemar Carpinel, the bishop Gerard of Avesnes,[84] Hugh of Rebecques, Walter Mohamet and Baldwin of Saint Abraham. As a Frankish garrison of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, its defence was precarious being 'little more than an island in a Moslem ocean'.[85] The Crusaders converted the mosque and the synagogue into a church. In 1106, an Egyptian campaign thrust into southern Palestine and almost succeeded the following year in wresting Hebron back from the Crusaders under Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who personally led the counter-charge to beat the Muslim forces off. In the year 1113 during the reign of Baldwin II of Jerusalem, according to Ali of Herat (writing in 1173), a certain part over the cave of Abraham had given way, and "a number of Franks had made their entrance therein". And they discovered "(the bodies) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob", "their shrouds having fallen to pieces, lying propped up against a wall...Then the King, after providing new shrouds, caused the place to be closed once more". Similar information is given in Ibn at Athir's Chronicle under the year 1119; "In this year was opened the tomb of Abraham, and those of his two sons Isaac and Jacob ...Many people saw the Patriarch. Their limbs had nowise been disturbed, and beside them were placed lamps of gold and of silver."[86] The Damascene nobleman and historian Ibn al-Qalanisi in his chronicle also alludes at this time to the discovery of relics purported to be those of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a discovery which excited eager curiosity among all three communities in Palestine, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian.[87][88] Towards the end of the period of Crusader rule, in 1166 Maimonides visited Hebron and wrote,

On Sunday, 9 Marheshvan (17 October), I left Jerusalem for Hebron to kiss the tombs of my ancestors in the Cave. On that day, I stood in the cave and prayed, praise be to God, (in gratitude) for everything.[89]

A royal domain, Hebron was handed over to Philip of Milly in 1161 and joined with the Seigneurie of Transjordan. A bishop was appointed to Hebron in 1168 and the new cathedral church of St Abraham was built in the southern part of the Haram.[90] In 1167, the episcopal see of Hebron was created along with that of Kerak and Sebastia (the tomb of John the Baptist).[91]

In 1170, Benjamin of Tudela visited the city, which he called by its Frankish name, St. Abram de Bron. He reported:

Here there is the great church called St. Abram, and this was a Jewish place of worship at the time of the Mohammedan rule, but the Gentiles have erected there six tombs, respectively called those of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah. The custodians tell the pilgrims that these are the tombs of the Patriarchs, for which information the pilgrims give them money. If a Jew comes, however, and gives a special reward, the custodian of the cave opens unto him a gate of iron, which was constructed by our forefathers, and then he is able to descend below by means of steps, holding a lighted candle in his hand. He then reaches a cave, in which nothing is to be found, and a cave beyond, which is likewise empty, but when he reaches the third cave behold there are six sepulchres, those of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, respectively facing those of Sarah, Rebekah and Leah.[92]

The Kurdish Muslim Saladin retook Hebron in 1187 – again with Jewish assistance according to one late tradition, in exchange for a letter of security allowing them to return to the city and build a synagogue there.[93] The name of the city was changed back to Al-Khalil. A Kurdish quarter still existed in the town during the early period of Ottoman rule.[94] Richard the Lionheart retook the city soon after. Richard of Cornwall, brought from England to settle the dangerous feuding between Templars and Hospitallers, whose rivalry imperiled the treaty guaranteeing regional stability stipulated with the Egyptian Sultan As-Salih Ayyub, 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, Muslim Hebron, in violation of agreements.[95]

In 1244, the Khwarazmians destroyed the town, but left the sanctuary untouched.[69]

In 1260, after Mamluk Sultan Baibars defeated the Mongol army, the minarets were built onto the sanctuary. Six years later, while on pilgrimage to Hebron, Baibars promulgated an edict forbidding Christians and Jews from entering the sanctuary,[96] and the climate became less tolerant of Jews and Christians than it had been under the prior Ayyubid rule. The edict for the exclusion of Christians and Jews was not strictly enforced until the middle of the 14th-century and by 1490, not even Muslims were permitted to enter the caverns.[97]

The mill at Artas was built in 1307, and the profits from its income were dedicated to the hospital in Hebron.[98] Between 1318–20, the Na'ib of Gaza and much of coastal and interior Palestine ordered the construction of Jawli Mosque to enlarge the prayer space for worshipers at the Ibrahimi Mosque.[99]

Hebron was visited by some important rabbis over the next two centuries, among them Nachmanides (1270) and Ishtori HaParchi (1322) who noted the old Jewish cemetery there. Sunni imam Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350) was penalised by the religious authorities in Damascus for refusing to recognise Hebron as a Muslim pilgrimage site, a view also held by his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah.[100]

The Italian traveller, Meshulam of Volterra (1481) found not more that twenty Jewish families living in Hebron.[101][102] and recounted how the Jewish women of Hebron would disguise themselves with a veil in order to pass as Muslim women and enter the Cave of the Patriarchs without being recognized as Jews.[103]

Minute descriptions of Hebron were recorded in Stephen von Gumpenberg's Journal (1449), by Felix Fabri (1483) and by Mejr ed-Din[104] It was in this period, also, that the Mamluk Sultan Qa'it Bay revived the old custom of the Hebron "table of Abraham," and exported it as a model for his own madrasa in Medina.[105] This became an immense charitable establishment near the Haram, distributing daily some 1,200 loaves of bread to travellers of all faiths.[106] The Italian rabbi Obadiah ben Abraham Bartenura wrote around 1490:

I was in the Cave of Machpelah, over which the mosque has been built; and the Arabs hold the place in high honour. All the Kings of the Arabs come here to repeat their prayers, but neither a Jew nor an Arab may enter the Cave itself, where the real graves of the Patriarchs are; the Arabs remain above, and let down burning torches into it through a window, for they keep a light always burning there. . Bread and lentil, or some other kind of pulse (seeds of peas or beans), is distributed (by the Muslims) to the poor every day without distinction of faith, and this is done in honour of Abraham.[107]

Hebron in 1839, after a drawing by David Roberts, in The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia

The expansion of the Ottoman Empire along the southern Mediterranean coast under sultan Selim I coincided with the establishment of Inquisition commissions by the Catholic Monarchs in Spain in 1478, which ended centuries of the Iberian convivencia (coexistence). The ensuing expulsions of the Jews drove many Sephardi Jews into the Ottoman provinces, and a slow influx of Jews to the Holy Land took place, with some notable Sephardi kabbalists settling in Hebron.[108][109] Over the following two centuries, there was a significant migration of Bedouin tribal groups from the Arabian Peninsula into Palestine. Many settled in three separate villages in the Wādī al-Khalīl, and their descendants later formed the majority of Hebron.[110]

The Jewish community fluctuated between 8–10 families throughout the 16th century, and suffered from severe financial straits in the first half of the century.[111] In 1540, renowned kabbalist Malkiel Ashkenazi bought a courtyard from the small Karaite community, in which he established the Sephardic Abraham Avinu Synagogue.[112] In 1659, Abraham Pereyra of Amsterdam founded the Hesed Le'Abraham yeshiva in Hebron, which attracted many students.[113] In the early 18th century, the Jewish community suffered from heavy debts, almost quadrupling from 1717–1729,[114] and were "almost crushed" from the extortion practiced by the Turkish pashas. In 1773 or 1775, a substantial amount of money was extorted from the Jewish community, who paid up to avert a threatened catastrophe, after a false allegation was made accusing them of having murdered the son of a local sheikh and throwing his body into a cesspit.> Emissaries from the community were frequently sent overseas to solicit funds.[115][116]

During the Ottoman period, the dilapidated state of the patriarchs' tombs was restored to a semblance of sumptuous dignity.[117] Ali Bey who, under Muslim disguise, was one of the few Westerners to gain access, reported in 1807 that,

all the sepulchres of the patriarchs are covered with rich carpets of green silk, magnificently embroidered with gold; those of the wives are red, embroidered in like manner. The sultans of Constantinople furnish these carpets, which are renewed from time to time. Ali Bey counted nine, one over the other, upon the sepulchre of Abraham.[118]

Hebron also became known throughout the Arab world for its glass production, abetted by Bedouin trade networks which brought up minerals from the Dead Sea, and the industry is mentioned in the books of 19th century Western travellers to Palestine. For example, Ulrich Jasper Seetzen noted during his travels in Palestine in 1808–09 that 150 persons were employed in the glass industry in Hebron,[119] based on 26 kilns.[120] In 1833, a report on the town appearing in a weekly paper printed by the London-based Religious Tract Society wrote that Hebron's population had 400 Arab families, had numerous well-provisioned shops and that there was a manufactory of glass lamps, which were exported to Egypt.[121] Early 19th-century travellers also noticed Hebron's flourishing agriculture. Apart from glassware, it was a major exporter of dibse, grape sugar,[122] from the famous Dabookeh grapestock characteristic of Hebron.[123]

Northern Hebron in the mid-19th century (1850s)

An Arab peasants' revolt broke out in April 1834 when Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt announced he would recruit troops from the local Muslim population.[124] Hebron, headed by its nazir Abd ar-Rahman Amr, declined to supply its quota of conscripts for the army and suffered badly from the Egyptian campaign to crush the uprising. The town was invested and, when its defences fell on 4 August, it was sacked by Ibrahim Pasha's army.[125][126][127] An estimated 500 Muslims from Hebron were killed in the attack and some 750 were conscripted. 120 youths were abducted and put at the disposal of Egyptian army officers. Most of the Muslim population managed to flee beforehand to the hills. Many Jews fled to Jerusalem, but during the general pillage of the town at least five were killed.[128] In 1838, the total population was estimated at 10,000.[126] When the government of Ibrahim Pasha fell in 1841, the local clan leader Abd ar-Rahman Amr once again resumed the reins of power as the Sheik of Hebron. Due to his extortionate demands for cash from the local population, most of the Jewish population fled to Jerusalem.[129] In 1846, the Ottoman Governor-in-chief of Jerusalem (serasker), Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha, waged a campaign to subdue rebellious sheiks in the Hebron area, and while doing so, allowed his troops to sack the town. Though it was widely rumoured that he secretly protected Abd ar-Rahman,[130] the latter was deported together with other local leaders (such as Muslih al-'Azza of Bayt Jibrin), but he managed to return to the area in 1848.[131]

According to Hillel Cohen, the attacks on Jews in this particular period are an exception that proves the rule, that one of the easiest place for Jews to live in the world were in the various countries of the Ottoman Empire. In the mid-eighteenth century, rabbi Abraham Gershon of Kitov wrote from Hebron that:"the gentiles here very much love the Jews. When there is a brit milah (circumcision ceremony) or any other celebration, their most important men come at night and rejoice with the Jews and clap hands and dance with the Jews, just like the Jews'."[132]

A display of Hebron glass

By 1850, the Jewish population consisted of 45–60 Sephardic families, some 40 born in the town, and a 30-year-old Ashkenazic community of 50 families, mainly Polish and Russian,[133][134] the Lubavitch Hasidic movement having established a community in 1823.[135] The ascendency of Ibrahim Pasha devastated for a time the local glass industry for, aside from the loss of life, his plan to build a Mediterranean fleet led to severe logging in Hebron's forests, and firewood for the kilns grew rarer. At the same time, Egypt began importing cheap European glass, the rerouting of the hajj from Damascus through Transjordan eliminated Hebron as a staging point, and the Suez canal (1869) dispensed with caravan trade. The consequence was a steady decline in the local economy.[136]

At this time, the town was divided into four quarters: the Ancient Quarter (Harat al-Kadim) near the Cave of Machpelah; to its south, the Quarter of the Silk Merchant (Harat al-Kazaz), inhabited by Jews; the Mamluk-era Sheikh's Quarter (Harat ash Sheikh) to the north-west;and further north, the Dense Quarter (Harat al-Harbah).[137][138] In 1855, the newly appointed Ottoman pasha ("governor") of the sanjak ("district") of Jerusalem, Kamil Pasha, attempted to subdue the rebellion in the Hebron region. Kamil and his army marched towards Hebron in July 1855, with representatives from the English, French and other Western consulates as witnesses. After crushing all opposition, Kamil appointed Salama Amr, the brother and strong rival of Abd al Rachman, as nazir of the Hebron region. After this relative quiet reigned in the town for the next 4 years.[139][140] Hungarian Jews of the Karlin Hasidic court settled in another part of the city in 1866.[141] According to Nadav Shragai Arab-Jewish relations were good, and Alter Rivlin, who spoke Arabic and Syrian-Aramaic, was appointed Jewish representative to the city council.[141] Hebron suffered from a severe drought during 1869–71 and food sold for ten times the normal value.[142] From 1874 the Hebron district as part of the Sanjak of Jerusalem was administered directly from Istanbul.[143] By 1874, during C.R. Conder's visit to Hebron under the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund, the city's Jewish community had swollen to about 600, compared to 17,000 Muslims.[144] The Jews were confined to the Quarter of the Corner Gate.[144]

Late in the 19th century the production of Hebron glass declined due to competition from imported European glass-ware, however, the products of Hebron continued to be sold, particularly among the poorer populace and travelling Jewish traders from the city.[145] At the World Fair of 1873 in Vienna, Hebron was represented with glass ornaments. A report from the French consul in 1886 suggests that glass-making remained an important source of income for Hebron, with four factories earning 60,000 francs yearly.[146] While the economy of other cities in Palestine was based on solely on trade, Hebron was the only city in Palestine that combined agriculture, livestock herding and trade, including the manufacture of glassware and processing of hides. This was because the most fertile lands were situated within the city limits.[147] The city, nevertheless, was considered unproductive and had a reputation "being an asylum for the poor and the spiritual."[148] Differing in architectural style from Nablus, whose wealthy merchants built handsome houses, Hebron's main characteristic was its semi-urban, semi-peasant dwellings.[147]

Jews in Hebron, 1921

Hebron was 'deeply Bedouin and Islamic',[149] and 'bleakly conservative' in its religious outlook,[150] with a strong tradition of hostility to Jews.[151][152] It had a reputation for religious zeal in jealously protecting its sites from Jews and Christians, but both the Jewish and Christian communities were apparently well integrated into the town's economic life.[110] As a result of its commercial decline, tax revenues diminished significantly, and the Ottoman government, avoiding meddling in complex local politics, left Hebron relatively undisturbed, to become 'one of the most autonomous regions in late Ottoman Palestine.'.[153]

The Jewish community was under French protection until 1914. The Jewish presence itself was divided between the traditional Sephardi community, whose members spoke Arabic and adopted Arab dress, and the more recent influx of Ashkenazi Jews. They prayed in different synagogues, sent their children to different schools, lived in different quarters and did not intermarry. The community was largely Orthodox and anti-Zionist.[154][155]

British loyalty meeting in Hebron, July 1940

The British occupied Hebron on 8 December 1917; governance transited to a mandate in 1920. Most of Hebron was owned by old Islamic charitable endowments (waqfs), with about 60% of all the land in and around Hebron belonging to the Tamīm al-Dārī waqf.[156] In 1922, its population stood at 16,577, of which 16,074 (97%) were Muslim, 430 (2.5%) were Jewish and 73 (0.4%) were Christian.[157][158] During the 1920s, Abd al-Ḥayy al-Khaṭīb was appointed Mufti of Hebron. Before his appointment, he had been a staunch opponent of Haj Amin, supported the Muslim National Associations and had good contacts with the Zionists.[159] Later, al-Khaṭīb became one of the few loyal followers of Haj Amin in Hebron.[160] During the late Ottoman period, a new ruling elite had emerged in Palestine. They later formed the core of the growing Arab nationalist movement in the early 20th century. During the Mandate period, delegates from Hebron constituted only 1 per cent of the political leadership.[161] The Palestinian Arab decision to boycott the 1923 elections for a Legislative Council was made at the fifth Palestinian Congress, after it was reported by Murshid Shahin (an Arab pro-Zionist activist) that there was intense resistance in Hebron to the elections.[162] Almost no house in Hebron remained undamaged when an earthquake struck Palestine on July 11, 1927.[163]

The Cave of the Patriarchs continued to remain officially closed to non-Muslims, and reports that entry to the site had been relaxed in 1928 were denied by the Supreme Muslim Council.[164]

At this time following attempts by the Lithuanian government to draft yeshiva students into the army, the Lithuanian Hebron Yeshiva (Knesses Yisroel) relocated to Hebron, after consultations between Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Yechezkel Sarna and Moshe Mordechai Epstein.[165][166] and by 1929 had attracted some 265 students from Europe and the United States.[167] The majority of the Jewish population lived on the outskirts of Hebron along the roads to Be'ersheba and Jerusalem, renting homes owned by Arabs, a number of which were built for the express purpose of housing Jewish tenants, with a few dozen within the city around the synagogues.[168] During the 1929 Hebron massacre, Arab rioters slaughtered some 64 to 67 Jewish men, women and children[169][170] and wounded 60, and Jewish homes and synagogues were ransacked; 435 Jews survived by virtue of the shelter and assistance offered them by their Arab neighbours, who hid them.[171] Some Hebron Arabs, including Ahmad Rashid al-Hirbawi, president of Hebron chamber of commerce, supported the return of Jews after the massacre.[172] Two years later, 35 families moved back into the ruins of the Jewish quarter, but on the eve of the Palestinian Arab revolt (April 23, 1936) the British Government decided to move the Jewish community out of Hebron as a precautionary measure to secure its safety. The sole exception was the 8th generation Hebronite Ya'akov ben Shalom Ezra, who processed dairy products in the city, blended in well with its social landscape and resided there under the protection of friends. In November 1947, in anticipation of the UN partition vote, the Ezra family closed its shop and left the city.[173] Yossi Ezra has since tried to regain his family's property through the Israeli courts.[174]

At the beginning of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt took control of Hebron. Between May and October, Egypt and Jordan tussled for dominance in Hebron and its environs. Both countries appointed military governors in the town, hoping to gain recognition from Hebron officials. The Egyptians managed to persuade the pro-Jordanian mayor to support their rule, at least superficially, but local opinion turned against them when they imposed taxes. Villagers surrounding Hebron resisted and skirmishes broke out in which some were killed.[175] By late 1948, part of the Egyptian forces from Bethlehem to Hebron had been cut off from their lines of supply and Glubb Pasha sent 350 Arab Legionnaires and an armoured car unit to Hebron to reinforce them there. When the Armistice was signed, the city thus fell under Jordanian military control. The armistice agreement between Israel with Jordan intended to allow Israeli Jewish pilgrims to visit Hebron, but, as Jews of all nationalities were forbidden by Jordan into the country, this did not occur.[176][177]

In December 1948, the Jericho Conference was convened to decide the future of the West Bank which was held by Jordan. Hebron notables, headed by mayor Muhamad 'Ali al-Ja'bari, voted in favour of becoming part of Jordan and to recognise Abdullah I of Jordan as their king. The subsequent unilateral annexation benefited the Arabs of Hebron, who during the 1950s, played a significant role in the economic development of Jordan.[178][179]

Although a significant number of people relocated to Jerusalem from Hebron during the Jordanian period,[180] Hebron itself saw a considerable increase in population with 35,000 settling in the town.[181] During this period, signs of the previous Jewish presence in Hebron were removed.[182]

Constructed in 1893, this former Jewish clinic in central Hebron now forms part of an Israeli neighbourhood.

After the Six-Day War in June 1967, Israel occupied Hebron along with the rest of the West Bank, establishing a military government to rule the area. In an attempt to reach a land for peace deal, Yigal Allon proposed that Israel annex 45% of the West Bank and return the remainder to Jordan.[183] According to the Allon Plan, the city of Hebron would lie in Jordanian territory, and in order to determine Israel's own border, Allon suggested building a Jewish settlement adjacent to Hebron.[184] David Ben-Gurion also considered that Hebron was the one sector of the conquered territories that should remain under Jewish control and be open to Jewish settlement.[185] Apart from its symbolic message to the international community that Israel's rights in Hebron were, according to Jews, inalienable,[186] settling Hebron also had theological significance in some quarters.[187] For some, the capture of Hebron by Israel had unleashed a messianic fervor.[188]

2018 United Nations map of the area, showing the Israeli occupation arrangements.

Survivors and descendants of the prior community are mixed. Some support the project of Jewish redevelopment, others commend living in peace with Hebronite Arabs, while a third group recommend a full pullout.[189] Descendants supporting the latter views have met with Palestinian leaders in Hebron.[190] In 1997 one group of descendants dissociated themselves from the settlers by calling them an obstacle to peace.[190] On May 15, 2006, a member of a group who is a direct descendant of the 1929 refugees[191] urged the government to continue its support of Jewish settlement, and allow the return of eight families evacuated the previous January from homes they set up in emptied shops near the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.[189] Beit HaShalom, established in 2007 under disputed circumstances, was under court orders permitting its forced evacuation.[192][193][194][195] All the Jewish settlers were expelled on December 3, 2008.[196]

Israeli soldiers patrol an open-air market.

Immediately after the 1967 war, mayor al-Ja'bari had unsuccessfully promoted the creation of an autonomous Palestinian entity in the West Bank, and by 1972, he was advocating for a confederal arrangement with Jordan instead. al-Ja'bari nevertheless consistently fostered a conciliatory policy towards Israel.[197] He was ousted by Fahad Qawasimi in the 1976 mayoral election, which marked a shift in support towards pro-PLO nationalist leaders.[198]

Supporters of Jewish settlement within Hebron see their program as the reclamation of an important heritage dating back to Biblical times, which was dispersed or, it is argued, stolen by Arabs after the massacre of 1929.[199][200] The purpose of settlement is to return to the 'land of our forefathers',[201] and the Hebron model of reclaiming sacred sites in Palestinian territories has pioneered a pattern for settlers in Bethlehem and Nablus.[202] Many reports, foreign and Israeli, are sharply critical of the behaviour of Hebronite settlers.[203][204]

Sheik Farid Khader heads the Ja’bari tribe, consisting of some 35,000 people, which is considered one of the most important tribes in Hebron. For years, members of the Ja'bari tribe were the mayors of Hebron. Khader regularly meets with settlers and Israeli government officials and is a strong opponent of both the concept of Palestinian State and the Palestinian Authority itself. Khader believes that Jews and Arabs must learn to coexist.[205]

Official 1997 agreement map of Palestinian controlled H1 and Israeli controlled H2.

Illustration showing areas H1 and H2 and adjacent Israeli settlements

1997 Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron

Following the 1995 Oslo Agreement and subsequent 1997 Hebron Agreement, Palestinian cities were placed under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, with the exception of Hebron,[6] which was split into two sectors: H1 is controlled by the Palestinian Authority and H2 – which includes the Old City of Hebron – remained under the military control of Israel.[206][207] Around 120,000 Palestinians live in H1, while around 30,000 Palestinians along with around 700 Israelis remain under Israeli military control in H2. As of 2009, a total of 86 Jewish families lived in Hebron.[208] The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) may not enter H1 unless under Palestinian escort. Palestinians cannot approach areas where settlers live without special permits from the IDF.[209] The Jewish settlement is widely considered to be illegal by the international community, although the Israeli government disputes this.[210]

The Palestinian population in H2 has greatly declined because of the impact of Israeli security measures, including extended curfews, strict restrictions on movement,[211] and the closure of Palestinian commercial activities near settler areas, and also due to settler harassment.[212][213][214][215]

Palestinians are barred from using Al-Shuhada Street, a principal commercial thoroughfare.[209][216] As a result, about half the Arab shops in H2 have gone out of business since 1994.

In 2017, Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) issued a confidential report covering their 20 years of observing the situation in Hebron. The report, based in part on over 40,000 incident reports over those 20 years, found that Israel routinely violates international law in Hebron and that it is in "severe and regular breach" of the rights to non-discrimination laid out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights over the lack of freedom to movement for the Palestinian residents of Hebron. The report found that Israel is in regular violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits the deportation of civilians from occupied territory. The report also found the presence of any Israeli settlement in Hebron to violate international law.[217]

Post-1967 settlement was impelled by theological doctrines developed in the Mercaz HaRav Kook under both its founder Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, and his son Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, according to which the Land of Israel is holy, the people, endowed with a divine spark, are holy, and that the messianic Age of Redemption has arrived, requiring that the Land and People be united in occupying the land and fulfilling the commandments. Hebron has a particular role in the unfolding 'cosmic drama': traditions hold that Abraham purchased land there, that King David was its king, and the tomb of Abraham covers the entrance to the Garden of Eden, and was a site excavated by Adam, who is buried there with Eve. The doctrines hold that redemption will occur when the feminine and masculine characteristics of God are united at the site. In this meta, settling Hebron is not only a right and duty, but is doing the world at large a favour, with the community's acts an example of the Jews of Hebron being "a light unto the nations" (Or la-Goyim)[218] and bringing about their redemption, even if this means breaching secular laws, expressed in religiously motivated violence towards Palestinians, who are widely viewed as "mendacious, vicious, self-centered, and impossible to trust". Clashes with Palestinians in the settlement project have theological significance in the Jewish Hebron community: the frictions of war were, in Kook's view, conducive to the messianic process, and that Arabs will have to leave. There is no kin connection between the new settlers and the traditional Old Families of Jewish Hebronites, who vigorously oppose the new settler presence in Hebron.[218]

In the spring of 1968, Rabbi Moshe Levinger, together with a group of Israelis posing as Swiss tourists, rented from its owner Faiz Qawasmeh[219] the main hotel in Hebron[220] and then refused to leave. The Labor government's survival depended on the religious Zionism-associated National Religious Party and was, under pressure of this party, reluctant to evacuate the settlers. Defence Minister Moshe Dayan ordered their evacuation but agreed to their relocation to the nearby military base on the eastern outskirts of Hebron which was to become the settlement Kiryat Arba.[221] After heavy lobbying by Levinger, the settlement gained the tacit support of Levi Eshkol and Yigal Allon, while it was opposed by Abba Eban and Pinhas Sapir.[222] After more than a year and a half, the government agreed to legitimize the settlement.[223] The settlement was later expanded with the nearby outpost Givat Ha’avot, north of the Cave of the Patriarchs.[221] Much of the Hebron-Kiryat Arba operation was planned and financed by the Movement for Greater Israel.[224] According to a ruling given by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2011, Jews have no right to properties they possessed in places like Hebron and Tel Rumeida before 1948, and have no right to compensation for their losses.[174]

Originally named Hesed l'Avraham clinic, Beit Hadassah was constructed in 1893 with donations of Jewish Baghdadi families and was the only modern medical facility in Hebron. In 1909, it was renamed after Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America which took responsibility for the medical staff and provided free medical care to all.[225]

In 1979, after several attempts by Israeli men had failed to succeed in taking possession of the building, then known as the Dabouia, 15 settler mothers and their 35 children drove down to it and squatted there, and managed to camp in the building for a year, exploiting the government's indecision at the time, when it was engaged in negotiations with Egypt to hand back the Sinai peninsula The calculation was that the state would 'balance out' the unpopular decision to hand back conquered territory by committing itself to greater control of the West Bank.[226] A group of settlers led by Miriam Levinger moved into the Dabouia, the former Hadassah Hospital in central Hebron, then under Arab administration. They turned it into a bridgehead for Jewish resettlement inside Hebron[227] and founded the Committee of The Jewish Community of Hebron near the Abraham Avinu Synagogue. The take-over created severe conflict with Arab shopkeepers in the same area; a retaliatory action by a Palestinian guerilla group killed six yeshiva students.[228] The shopkeepers appealed twice to the Israeli Supreme Court, without success.[229] With this precedent, in February of the following year, the Government legitimized residency in the city of Hebron proper, allowing 50 armed families under military guard to dwell in a fortified structure in the heart of the Old City of Palestinian Hebron.[230][226] The pattern of settlement followed by an outbreak of hostilities with local Palestinians was repeated later at Tel Rumeida.[231]

Beit Romano was built and owned by Yisrael Avraham Romano of Constantinople and served Sephardi Jews from Turkey. In 1901, a Yeshiva was established there with a dozen teachers and up to 60 students.[225]

In 1982, Israeli authorities took over a Palestinian education office (Osama Ben Munqez School) and the adjacent bus station. The school was turned into a settlement, and the bus station into a military base against an order of the Israeli Supreme Court.[221]

In 1807 the immigrant Sephardic Rabbi Haim Yeshua Hamitzri (Haim the Jewish Egyptian) purchased 5 dunams on the outskirts of the city and in 1811 he signed a contract for a 99-year lease on a further 800 dunams of land, which included 4 plots in Tel Rumeida. The plots were administered by his descendant Haim Bajaio after Jews left Hebron. Settlers' claims to this land are based on these precedents, but are dismissed by the rabbi's heir.[232]

In 1984, settlers established a caravan outpost there called (Ramat Yeshai). In 1998, the Government recognized it as a settlement, and in 2001 the Defence Minister approved the building of the first housing units.[221]

Abraham Avinu Synagogue in 1925

The Abraham Avinu Synagogue was the physical and spiritual center of its neighborhood and regarded as one of the most beautiful synagogues in Palestine. It was the centre of Jewish worship in Hebron until it was burnt down during the 1929 riots. In 1948 under Jordanian rule, the remaining ruins were razed.[233]

The Avraham Avinu quarter was established next to the Vegetable and Wholesale Markets on Al-Shuhada Street in the south of the Old City. The vegetable market was closed by the Israeli military and some of the neighbouring houses were occupied by settlers and soldiers. Settlers started to take over the closed Palestinian stores, despite explicit orders of the Israeli Supreme Court that the settlers should vacate these stores and the Palestinians should be allowed to return.[221]

In 2012, Israel Defense Forces called for the immediate removal of a new settlement, because it was seen as a provocation.[234] The IDF has enforced settler demands against the flying of Palestinian flags on a Hebronite rooftop contiguous to settlements, though no rule forbids the practice.[235] In August 2016, Israel announced its intention to allow settlement building in the military compound of Plugat Hamitkanim in Hebron, which had been expropriated for military purposes in the 1990s.[236]

In late 2019, the Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett instructed the military administration to inform the Palestinian municipality of the government's intention to reconstruct infrastructure in the old Hebron fruit and vegetable market in order to establish a Jewish neighbourhood there, which would allow for doubling the city's settler population. The area's original residents, who have protected tenancy rights there, were compelled to evacuate the zone after the Cave of the Patriarch's massacre. The original site was under Jewish ownership prior to 1948. The plan proposes that the empty shops remain Palestinian while the units built over them house Jewish Israelis.[237][238][239]