Hebron History Population At Different Times 1929 Massacre

Hebron ( Arabic الخليل al-Ḫalil; Hebrew חברון, Standard Hebrew Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew Ḥeḇrôn: the name in each language is derived from that language's word for "Friend") is a town in the West Bank.

In 1990, the estimated population was 80,000. Since early 1997 most of the town has been controlled by the Palestinian Authority, in accordance with the Hebron accords (signed by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu). An international unarmed observer force - Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) (1) is responsible for maintaining a buffer between the Palestinian and Israeli sides (which is in control of the Jewish quarter in Hebron). In March of 2002, two TIPH observers were killed and one wounded by Palestinian gunmen. TIPH patrols in the Jewish areas of the city were temporarily suspended after repeated confrontations with Israeli settler youths.

1 History

Hebron is one of most ancient cities in the Middle East, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The land was originally purchased by Abraham so that he would have somwhere to bury his wife, Sarah. When the Israelites returned from their exile in Egypt they found that an Amorite City had been build upon it. The Gibeonite s of GibeonThe city of Gibeon in Canaan (about 6 miles north of the center of Jerusalem in the West Bank) was one of the four cities of the Hivites, which did not easily fall to the Hebrews. The Book of Joshua and the books of Samuel record the struggle. The city ex, a city that had belonged in the AmoriteAmorite ( Hebrew emor Egyptian Amar Akkadian Amurru (corresponding to Sumerian MAR. TU or Martu refers to a Semitic people who occupied the middle Euphrates area from the second half of the third millennium BC and also appear in the Tanakh. The People Fro League made a treaty with the Israelites, therefore the Amorites decided to destroy Gibeon as a lession to other cities. The rulers of Gibeon went to the Israeli general Joshua and asked for him to destroy the Amorite armies which he did. Then he captured all the Amorite cities including Hebron.

Hebron was probably founded in the 18th century BC19th century BC 18th century BC 17th century BC other centuries) ( 3rd millennium BC 2nd millennium BC 1st millennium BC) Events 1787 1784 BC Amorite conquests of Uruk and Isin 1786 BC Egypt: End of Twelfth Dynasty, start of Thirteenth Dynasty, start of F. It is mentioned numerous times in the BibleThe Bible (From Greek βιβλια biblia meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus). In particular, a cave near it, called the Cave of the Patriarchs (Hebrew: "ma'arat ha-machpela"), is traditionally considered the place where AbrahamAbraham "Father/Leader of many", Standard Hebrew Avraham Tiberian Hebrew Arhm Arabic Ibrhim is the patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. His story is told in the Book of Genesis. Islam also regards him as the ancestor of the Bedouins, through Ish, SarahSarah "Princess", Standard Hebrew Sara Tiberian Hebrew Srh is a biblical matriarch and the wife of Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Her story is told in the Book of Genesis. For most of her life she was childless (Gen. She accom, IsaacIsaac or Yitzhak "He will laugh. Standard Hebrew Yiaq Tiberian Hebrew Yiq Arabic Isq is a biblical patriarch, the son and heir of Abraham and the father of Jacob and Esau. His story is told in the Book of Genesis. Isaac was so called because when his moth, RebekahRebekah or Rivka "Noose", Standard Hebrew Rivqa Tiberian Hebrew Riqh was a biblical matriarch and the wife of Isaac. Her story is told in the Book of Genesis. Rebekah was the mother of the twins Esau and Jacob, of whom she favored the latter. She was the, 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.

Except possibly for a few periods for which the facts are unclear, and the periods 1929-1931 and 1936-1968, there has been a significant Jewish presence in Hebron since Biblical times. In Jewish tradition, Hebron is one of the four "sacred communities" - ancient cities which were sites of Jewish religious activity.

2 Population at different times

this needs expansion to both earlier and later times

year Jews Christians Arabs source 1538 20h 7h 749h Cohen & Lewis (h = households) 1922 430 73 16,074 census 1931 135 112 17,275 census 1944 0 150 24,400 estimate 1994 450 ---70,000--- jdl.org

(the [JDL]'s number do not include surrounding neighborhoods)

3 1929 Massacre

A long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem became steadily more violent until, on August 23, 1929, a mob of Arabs inflamed by false rumours that two Arabs had been killed by Jews started a murderous attack on Jews in the Old City. The violence quickly spread to other parts of Palestine. The worst atrocities were in Hebron and Safad, where massacres of Jews occurred. In Hebron, Arab mobs killed 67 Jews and wounded many others using clubs, knives and axes. The lone British policeman in the town was overwhelmed and the reinforcements he called for did not arrive for 5 hours (leading to bitter recriminations). Most of the other Jews survived by hiding with their Arab neighbors. The surviving Jews were evacuated from the town. A few dozen families returned in 1931 but the community never reestablished itself and there were no Jews remaining in Hebron by 1936.

4 Jewish resettlement after 1967

Following the Six-Day War of 1967, a group of Jews disguised as tourists, led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger , took over the main hotel in Hebron and refused to leave. They later moved to a nearby abandoned army camp and established the community of Kiryat Arba. In 1979, Levinger's wife led 30 Jewish women to take over the Daboya Hospital (Beit Hadassah) in central Hebron. Before long this received Israeli government approval and further Jewish enclaves in the city were established with army assistance. This process of expansion of the Jewish presence is continuing and there are now more than 20 Jewish settlements in and around the city.

In 1997, an association of pre-1929 Jewish residents of Hebron published a statement dissociating themselves from the present settlers in Hebron, calling them dishonest and an obstacle to peace. [1]

5 1994 Massacre

On February 26, 1994, one of the settlers in Hebron, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-born physician, shot and killed 29 Muslims 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 Kach movement) have expressed support of his actions.

Following these events, Kach has been outlawed. A commission of inquiry established by Chief Justice Meir Shamgar has found that Goldstein had acted on his own. The victims of the shooting received financial compensation. Some of the Israeli settlers who hailed the attack created a shrine in memory of Goldstein. Others created websites that honor his memory, and a few charity foundations that 'support his cause'.

6 Al-Aqsa Intifada

Since the beginning of recent hostilities, during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Hebron and its surrounding villages (such as Dura) were a stronghold of the fundamentalist Islamic militias Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They both used Hebron as base of operation to commit terror attacks against Israeli civilians in Judea and Jerusalem

On March 26, 2004, Shalhevet Pass , 10-months-old baby girl was shot dead by a Palestinian terrorist sniper while being held in her mother's arms. Her father, Yitzhak, 25, was also injured by the gunfire in Hebron. This murder shocked the Israeli public.

On the eve of November 15, 2002, members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Hebron shot and killed 12 Israeli civilians and soldiers who were protecting Israeli settlers returning from prayer. The attack was quickly termed " Sabbath Night Massacre ".

In August 19, a suicide bomber from Hebron, exploded himself on a bus full of children in the center of Jerusalem, killing 23 people. In response the IDF began a series of raids in order to capture or kill Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in Hebron. Within two months the leaders of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Hebron ( Muhammed Seeder and Ahmed Majid Abu-Dosh of the Jihad; Abbedallah Qawasameh, Ahmed Bader, Izzedin Misk and Bassal Qawasameh of the Hamas) were all killed by the IDF elite units, along with some innocent bystanders. The Qawasameh tribe in the town consists of about 10,000 people.

See also : Israel -- Palestine

7 External links

(1) The International Presence in Hebron

Israeli history Palestinian Cities Holy cities Torah places Hebrew Bible/Tanakh places

<Hide>

Home > Hebron