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Hebron, known as al-Khalil in Arabic, is the largest city in the West Bank and the second largest in Palestine. It’s important to Muslims, Jews, and Christians for its association with Abraham, and is the second holiest city in Judaism.
Hebron is also the prime example of Israeli apartheid. Since 1997, the city has been divided into two sectors, H1 and H2, under the Hebron Protocol. 80% of the city makes up H1, which is under Palestinian control. The other 20%, H2, is under Israeli control, but maintains a Palestinian majority.
Hebron Dual Narrative Tour
We visited the city on a guided tour from Jerusalem. The Hebron Dual Narrative Tour, offered by Abraham Tours, runs every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The entire tour takes place in H2 and much of what’s visited is included in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Old City of Hebron.
Visitors spend the morning with an Israeli guide in Israeli settlements and the afternoon in the Old City with a Palestinian guide. The tour starts at ₪430 per person (as of June 2024).
The Hebron Dual Narrative Tour is one of the most eye-opening tours I have ever taken. It’s very political but you get to hear both sides of the story to make up your own mind. I would definitely take this tour again, especially because the day we visited was a Jewish holiday so the tour had to be altered quite a bit.
Tomb of the Patriarchs
Our first stop was the Tomb of the Patriarchs, also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs. It’s important to Jews, Muslims, and Christians.
The Tomb of the Patriarchs was built above the cave purchased by Abraham as a burial plot. According to the Book of Genesis, the three Patriarchs and their wives are buried there. They include Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebecca; and Jacob and Leah.
History of the Tomb of the Patriarchs
Between 31 and 4 BC, Herod the Great built a large castle-like enclosure over the cave. The stones are at least three feet tall and sometimes 24 feet long. It’s the only Herodian structure surviving fully intact to this day.
In the 4th century, the Byzantines constructed a small basilica inside the southeastern corner of the enclosure. The Sassanids destroyed it in 614, but the Arab Muslims reconstructed it as the Ibrahimi Mosque in 637. They also allowed Jews to build two small synagogues at the site.
In 1100, the Crusaders captured Hebron and converted the mosque into a church. They forbade Muslims and Jews from entering the complex. Saladin then conquered the city in 1188 and reconverted the building into the Ibrahimi Mosque, but allowed Christians to continue worshipping there. He also added minarets to each corner of Herod’s enclosure. Two of those minarets survive today.
The Mamluks constructed the al-Jawali Mosque between 1318 and 1320. This enlarged the prayer space to accommodate more worshippers. Later, the Ottomans restored the complex to great splendor.
After Israel occupied the West Bank following the Six-Day War, the building was divided into a synagogue and mosque. 81% is a mosque and 19% is a synagogue. Our guide mentioned that Muslims and Jews prayed side-by-side in the building until February 25, 1994, when American-Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein (1956-1994) opened fire on Palestinian Muslims praying in the mosque during Ramadan. 29 died and 125 were wounded. An additional 35 died during the resulting riots. Since then, Jews and Muslims are restricted from entering one another’s space.
Seventh Step Garden
One important feature of Tomb of the Patriarchs we were able to visit was the Seventh Step Garden. Under Mamluk rule, Jews were forbidden from entering the complex. They were restricted to worshipping up to the seventh step of the staircase on the southeast side. A guard would stand on the eighth step to knock down any Jew who tried to go any higher.
The “seventh step” rule stood for about 700 years until June 8, 1967. On that day, Israeli Major General Rabbi Shlomo Goren (1917-1994) pulled down the doors of the mosque, entered the building, and began to pray. He was the first Jew to enter the compound since the Mamluks began enforcing the rule. The staircase was later destroyed to erase the humiliation caused by the seventh step.
Denied Entry
When we visited Hebron on our tour, the original plan was to see the Jewish part of the complex with our Israeli guide, Eliyahu, and visit the mosque later on in the day with our Palestinian guide, Mohammed. However, that didn’t happen.
Eliyahu explained that on 10 days a year, Jews have free reign over the complex while on another 10 days, Muslims have free reign. We happened to be there on one of the days restricted to Jewish entry only. He tried to talk the guard into letting our group inside but was unsuccessful. Instead, Eliyahu lectured about the building from the outside while Jewish members of our group were given an opportunity to go inside.
While we were disappointed we couldn’t enter the Tomb of the Patriarchs, it gave us a good reason to return to Hebron in the future. It seems like a fantastic building to visit, with so much historical and religious significance. We hope to visit on a “normal” day when security issues and holidays don’t alter the plans of the guides.
Sukkot Festival
After visiting the Tomb of the Patriarchs, we took a quick look at the Sukkot festival that happened to be taking place that day. It was in a field just down the steps from the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
The festival featured music and dancing as well as several vendors set up under tents. Our guide, Eliyahu, gave us a few minutes to walk around the festival before gathering the group to continue the tour.
Gutnick Center
Just outside the festival was the Gutnick Center, which is a visitor center and restaurant. In 1968, it was the first settler’s building constructed in the city and functioned as the Settler’s Restaurant. The restaurant was bombed in 1974 but was closed at the time and nobody was injured. The owners then renovated the building, adding the second floor which now functions as a banquet hall. In 1995, it reopened in its current form as the Gutnick Center.
Al-Sahla Street
Next, we started to walk down the deserted al-Sahla Street, which is known to the Israelis as Emek Hebron Street. It was once a bustling part of the Wholesale Market.
Along the street, Eliyahu pointed out a settler’s home built on the site of the home of two Old Testament prophets. I can’t remember which prophets.
We also spotted street signs and interpretive panels in Hebrew and English along al-Sahla Street. Although illegal, they were placed there by Israeli settlers to assert their dominance over this part of the city.
Wholesale Market
Eliyahu turned down an alley that was once part of the Wholesale Market. It was built in the early 1960s while Hebron was under Jordanian rule. The market existed until the early 1990s, when violence against Jews was at its peak.
It was closed permanently after February 25, 1994, when American-Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein (1956-1994) opened fire on Muslim worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, killing 29 and injuring 125. Today, the market is a ghost town of shuttered shops.
In the center of the alley stands a memorial to Shlomo Yitzhak Shapira, an Israeli from Jerusalem. He was killed by Palestinian gunmen on September 23, 2002, while walking to the Avraham Avinu settlement. Shapira was visiting Hebron with his family for the Sukkot festival, and three of his sons were injured in the attack.
Before leaving the Wholesale Market, we passed some settler children and weren’t given a very friendly reception.
Muslim Cemetery
As we walked to Avraham Avinu, Eliyahu pointed out an Israeli military installation on a hill to the south of the city. He also showed us a Muslim cemetery across the street. The cemetery sits along a street that’s off limits to Palestinians.
Shalhevet Pass Memorial
Just before reaching Avraham Avinu, Eliyahu stopped in front of a memorial in what was once the Wholesale Market. On March 26, 2001, a Palestinian sniper killed 10 month old Israeli settler Shalhevet Pass. Her family was walking to their home in Avraham Avinu when the shooting occurred. Her father, Yitzchak Pass, was seriously wounded minutes later. The sniper, Mahmud Amru, was convicted to three life terms in December 2004. The playground just past the memorial is named for Shalhevet Pass.
Avraham Avinu Settlement
Avraham Avinu is an Israeli settlement made up of a modern building complex housing Israeli settlers. Some homes in the settlement overlook the main road through the Casbah and the Palestinian area of the Old City just to the north.
Avraham Avinu Synagogue
The religious center of the settlement is the Avraham Avinu Synagogue, which was regarded as one of the most beautiful in Palestine. It was originally built in 1540 by Malkiel Ashkenazi, a Sephardic rabbi and leader of the Jewish community of Hebron at the time. It was restored in 1738 and enlarged in 1864. The synagogue was destroyed during the 1929 Hebron Massacre and stood empty thereafter. The ruins were turned into a goat and donkey pen under Jordanian rule after 1948.
A few years after the Six-Day War, the Israeli government approved the rebuilding of the Avraham Avinu Synagogue. Work was underway by 1976.
Ashkenazi Synagogue
From there, we visited a tiny Ashkenazi synagogue. In the first room, there were historic items on display under glass cases.
In the actual synagogue, only half of our group was able to fit at one time. We rotated in and out while Eliyahu took out the Torah scrolls. He wanted to show them to members of the group that had never seen them before.
Sukkah
Finally, as we left Avraham Avinu and walked towards al-Shuhada Street, we were invited into a Sukkah, which is a temporary hut built for use during the week of Sukkot. It’s a symbolic shelter commemorating the time God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness after they were freed from slavery in Egypt.
Al-Shuhada Street
Al-Shuhada Street is a major road in the Old City of Hebron. It’s the main road leading to the Tomb of the Patriarchs and is a virtual ghost town. Its name translates to Martyrs’ Street in Arabic and is called King David Street by Israelis.
After American-Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein (1956-1994) opened fire on Muslim worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs on February 25, 1994, killing 29 and injuring 125, the Israeli government closed al-Shuhada Street to Palestinians and all Palestinian vehicle traffic.
304 Palestinian shops and warehouses were shuttered along the street. For several years, Palestinian pedestrians were refused access to the entire street, and are still unable to enter some parts. Because of this, al-Shuhada Street has been nicknamed Apartheid Street.
Building entrances along al-Shuhada street were completely welded shut, including entrances to homes. Homeowners living above the shops were forced to enter their homes by climbing through holes in the walls or through their roofs.
Al-Shuhada Street is the subject of frequent protests. Demonstrations call for the opening of the street and have been joined by Palestinians, Israelis, and international activists. There have been incidents of the Israeli army using rubber bullets and tear gas on the protesters.
Israeli settlers have also added street signs and interpretive panels in Hebrew and English along the street. Although illegal, they placed them there to assert their dominance over the Israeli part of the city.
Al-Shuhada Street continues past the Beit Romano and Beit Hadassah settlements. Shops are shuttered all the way to the end, where there’s a checkpoint to the Palestinian area of the city.
Israeli Graffiti on al-Shuhada Street
An open section of the street features Israeli graffiti. Eliyahu deciphered some of it for us. Images on one door were meant to represent the different type of people living in and visiting Hebron.
Murals on al-Shuhada Street
Further down the street near the Beit Romano settlement is a collection of murals. We saw them in reverse order, but I’ll describe them in the correct order here. The first mural represents the Roots of the Jewish People. It describes Hebron in the biblical era as the “city of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, capital of Judea, and the site of the onset of David’s reign”.
The second mural is titled A Pious Community. It states that from the 10th to 19th centuries, Hebron was “one of the four Holy Cities in the Land of Israel“, and a “community of Torah, charity, and kindness”.
The third mural is titled Destruction, and represents the 1929 riots: “Arab marauders slaughter Jews. The community is uprooted and destroyed.”
The fourth and final mural is titled Liberation, Return, Rebuilding. It represents the 1967 “liberation of Hebron and reestablishment of its Jewish community”.
Beit Romano
Continuing along al-Shuhada Street in Hebron, we passed a street with an Israeli checkpoint leading to the Palestinian side of the Old City. Just as on al-Shuhada Street, all the shops were closed, the awnings rusted, and the street sat a virtual ghost town.
Next to the checkpoint is the Beit Romano settlement, which we didn’t have a chance to visit. Beit Romano was built in 1876 by Yisrael Avraham Romano of Constantinople (now Istanbul). It served Sephardi Jews from Turkey and contained residential and study facilities. During the British Mandate period, it served as a British police headquarters.
Under Jordanian rule, the Osama Ben Munqez School was established at Beit Romano and the surrounding land was converted to a bus station. In 1982, Israel turned the school into a settlement and the bus station into a military base.
Beit Hadassah
Beit Hadassah sits just a few steps further up al-Shuhada Street. It was originally a hospital named Hesed l’Avraham built in 1893 with donations by Jewish families from Baghdad. At that time, it was the only modern medical facility in Hebron.
In 1909, the hospital was taken over by the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America and renamed Beit Hadassah. They provided free medical care to all residents of Hebron, regardless of religion.
During the 1929 Hebron Massacre, two rabbis, a pharmacist, and their families who lived in the buildings surrounding the hospital were brutally murdered. Later, under Jordanian rule in 1948, a school was established in the building.
Beit Hadassah was the start of the Israeli settlement movement in Hebron. In 1979, 15 settler women and their 35 children squatted in the building and managed to camp out for a year. The Israeli government was undecided on the matter at the time because they were involved in peace negotiations with Egypt over the return of the Sinai Peninsula. In February 1980, the government legitimized the settlement and Israeli residency in the Old City of Hebron, under military protection.
Our guide, Eliyahu, invited us into a lecture hall at Beit Hadassah to speak to the group for a few minutes. In 10 minutes, he summed up Jewish history in Hebron, stressing that Jews and Muslims lived together relatively peacefully until the 20th century.
Tel Rumeida
At the end of al-Shuhada Street, the road curves to the left and runs uphill past closed Palestinian shops. It leads to Tel Rumeida, which is the oldest part of the city of Hebron. It sits on a hill to the west of the Old City and contains both an Israeli settlement and Palestinian homes.
On the way up, our guide, Eliyahu, pointed out the spot at the intersection where a Palestinian who had tried to stab a soldier was shot and killed while lying wounded on the ground.
Tel Hebron
Near the top, we reached part of the Tel Hebron archaeological site. It contained an ancient road and wall dating back to the 18th to 16th centuries BC. There are other sections of the archaeological park that we didn’t visit.
Excavations occurred under American archaeologist Philip C. Hammond from 1964 to 1966; the Judean Hill Country Expedition from 1984 to 1986; and the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ariel University in 2014. The excavations under Israeli rule have been controversial. Opponents of the archaeological park state that its sole purpose is to assert settler dominance over Palestinian land.
Palestinian Home
Across the street from the archaeological site, Eliyahu showed us a Palestinian home with cages around the entrance and windows. He said the cages were added after the owner flew a large Palestinian flag following the murder of his Jewish neighbor, Rabbi Shlomo Ra’anan, on August 21, 1998.
Tel Rumeida Settlement
Next, we visited the Tel Rumeida settlement, which was established in 1984 with six portable caravans. The Israeli government approved a 16 unit building in 2001, and the land around it is being slowly taken over. Tel Rumeida is one of the most contentious areas in the city and Palestinians are routinely stopped and searched.
Outside the building, we encountered some Israeli soldiers patrolling the area. One of them was from Colombia. They greeted us, smiled, and posed for pictures.
Hebron Observatory
We climbed the stairs to the rooftop terrace of the building, which houses the Hebron Observatory. There were fantastic panoramic views of the city, and an interpretive panel let us know what to look out for.
Looking to the east, we could see the Old City as well as the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Directly to the north, we saw the heart of the Palestinian area. Looking closely, we were able to spot Israeli soldiers on the rooftops of some buildings.
North of that, we could see the Sheikh Ali al-Bakka Mosque. It was built in 1282 by Husam ad-Din Turuntay, a representative of the Bahriyya Mamluk sultan in Jerusalem. It’s named after Sheikh Ali al-Bakka, a Sufi religious leader from Iraq who lived in Hebron. The original mosque was mostly demolished except for the minaret. The current mosque was built in 1978 incorporating some of its remains.
Deir al-Arba’een
Next, we walked further up the hill to the Deir al-Arba’een complex. It’s a ruined building and the most important ancient structure on Tel Rumeida. It’s reported that Muslim pilgrims would visit the site since at least the 15th century.
According to Jewish tradition, the complex contains the Tomb of Jesse and Ruth. Jesse was the father of King David and Ruth was his great-grandmother. There’s a tiny synagogue next to the tomb. Other ruined buildings in the complex feature vaulted rooms.
The site was excavated in the 1970s by Israeli Zionist activist Ben Zion Tavger (1930-1983) and opened to the public. It was renovated in 2009. Muslims have been banned from entering the site for security reasons since 1994.
From there, we walked through an olive grove patrolled by Israeli soldiers and past a building owned by Palestinian activists.
Checkpoint
Leaving Tel Rumeida, we walked back down to the road past the Tel Rumeida settlement and on to the checkpoint at the end of al-Shuhada Street. Once there, we entered the Palestinian section of H2 in the divided city of Hebron to meet our Palestinian guide.
Although we were still in the Israeli-controlled H2 sector of the city, there was an immediate change of scenery. The restricted access area before passing through the checkpoint was a virtual ghost town, while the Palestinian side was a bustling city full of traffic and pedestrians.
Lunch in Hebron
The original plan was for the group to have a home-cooked lunch at a Palestinian home, but our guide, Mohammed, had to change plans. Earlier in the day, Israeli soldiers went to the home and threatened the residents, warning them there would be trouble if they welcomed any foreigners into their home. Instead, Mohammed took us to have shawarma at a local fast food restaurant.
Human Rights Defenders
After lunch, we visited Human Rights Defenders to meet with a local activist. We walked into a run-down building near the checkpoint we had passed through earlier and crowded into a small room, each taking a seat at a desk.
The activist talked about the problems Palestinians have faced since Israeli settlers and troops entered Hebron. He also spoke about programs that have been implemented in order to peacefully resist the occupation.
Souq
After thanking the activist, we walked through the souq, which is just west of the historic Old City. It was a crowded covered market with shops selling mostly clothing and accessories.
Once we got closer to the Old City, many of the shops were closed. We still enjoyed the pleasant walk between historic buildings.
Old City of Hebron
When we reached the entrance to the UNESCO World Heritage listed Old City, Mohammed showed us the checkpoint that led to the Beit Romano and Beit Hadassah settlements we had passed by a few hours earlier. From there, we began to walk through the narrow alleys of the Casbah past several shops.
Although most of the shops were closed, the owners desperately tried to get our group to enter. Unfortunately, we were on a tight schedule and didn’t have time to browse. We did walk past a few of the glass shops for which Hebron is famous.
Barrier
Walking through the alleys, we passed a barrier that separates the Palestinian side of the Old City from the Avraham Avinu settlement. It’s literally a wall of concrete set in the middle of a corridor.
Protective Net
Next, Mohammed stopped in front of a shop to show the group the protective net above the Casbah. The net was placed there to protect Palestinians from garbage thrown at them by Israeli settlers living in apartments in the Avraham Avinu settlement above the shops.
One of the shopkeepers said that almost every day, settlers throw something down on the Palestinians. A few of the group members were skeptical, pointing out that the garbage looks old and the nets seem to do a good job of protecting the Palestinians. The shopkeeper said not all of the garbage is old and sometimes settlers dump urine, bleach, or other liquids from their windows.
Kicked Out by Israeli Soldiers
At that point, a group of Israeli soldiers standing nearby approached Mohammed and told him we had five minutes to leave the area. They claimed that they wanted to secure the Casbah for a visiting dignitary, but Mohammed believes they didn’t like what they heard him telling the group. We then hurried through the rest of the Casbah, losing some of the other important points of interest Mohammed wanted to talk about.
Q&A with Mohammed
Mohammed took us to a parking lot just outside the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, which has a small mosaic of Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) at the entrance.
The group then sat around Mohammed, who lectured about a few more issues he wanted to cover during the tour. He finished lecturing and opened up the group to a question and answer session in which he was very open and honest about the difficulties living under apartheid. He also stressed the majority of Palestinians believe they can live peacefully with Israeli settlers if the situation would be handled differently.
While he spoke, the group was entertained by two children taking bricks from a recently repaired wall along the parking lot. It was somewhat symbolic – as the Israelis are building walls to separate themselves from the Palestinians, these children were taking one down.
End of the Hebron Dual Narrative Tour
With the tour winding to a close, Mohammed had to find a way to get us back to our Israeli guide, Eliyahu. Normally, he would have us meet Eliyahu at the Tomb of the Patriarchs but it was off limits to non-Jews that day. Instead, we had to walk through some back alleys to find a meeting place that wouldn’t violate Mohammed’s restricted movement through the area.
On the way, some curious Palestinian children began to follow our group, asking for pictures. They all had smiles on their faces and laughed when we showed them the snapshots we had taken. The children were a bright spot on the tour, reassuring the group that even though they were growing up in a place with such a bleak outlook on life, there was still plenty of room for laughter and enjoyment.
After finding Eliyahu, the group posed for a photo and said goodbye to Mohammed. We then followed Eliyahu to the bus for our ride back to Jerusalem. Although it wasn’t a “normal” day with the “normal” tour schedule, it was still one of the most eye-opening tours we had ever taken. It helped us better understand the complicated situation between Palestinians and Israelis from both perspectives, and the major flashpoint caused by the division of Hebron.
