The Old City of Hebron ( ) is the historic city centre of Hebron. The Hebron of antiquity is thought by archaeologists to have originally started elsewhere, at Tel Rumeida, which is approximately west of today's Old City, and thought to have originally been a Canaanite city. Today's Old City was settled in Greek or Roman times (circa 3rd to 1st centuries BCE). It became the center of the overall Hebron site during the Abbasid Caliphate (which began circa 750 CE).
It was recognized as the third World Heritage Site in the State of Palestine in 2017.
The Old City is built around the Cave of the Patriarchs, the traditional burial site of the biblical Patriarchs and Matriarchs, and venerated by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The Old City is a sensitive location in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in Hebron.
History
The present Old City was first settled in either the Greek or at the latest by Roman times.Achim Lichtenberger, Juden, Idumäer und „Heiden“. Die herodianischen Bauten in Hebron und Mamre, in: L.- M. Günther (ed.), Herodes und Rom (Stuttgart 2007), p.59: "Die hellenistisch-römische Stadt lag im Tal dazwischen" It was settled in the valley downhill from Tel Rumeida, considered to be the center of biblical Hebron. It was not until the start of the Abbasid Caliphate that the current city became the center of Hebron, building up around the focal point of the Cave of the Patriarchs.
The urban structure of the Old City of Hebron dates to the Mamluk period and has remained mostly unchanged.UNESCO Nomination Executive Summary: "The existing urban structure dates back to the Mamluk period... The boundaries of the proposed site correspond to the boundaries of the continuous fabric of Hebron/Al-Khalil Town during the Mamluk Period... Since the Mamluk era, the morphological configuration of the old town and the spatial organisation of the urban fabric have remained mostly unchanged, and the main distinctive attributes have been retained." A majority of the buildings are Ottoman-era from the eighteenth century, along with some half dozen Mamluk structures. It is composed of a number of cell-like quarters with narrowly packed fortified houses functioning as a boundary to each area, with gates at the end of the main streets.PEF Survey, volume III, p.305 It has an approximate area of , housing thousands of residents.
It became the third World Heritage Site in the State of Palestine in 2017,Unesco Declares Hebron’s Core as Palestinian World Heritage Site and was inscribed on the official List of World Heritage in Danger as "Palestine, Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town".Decision: 41 COM 8C.1 Update of the List of World Heritage in Danger (Inscribed Properties)
The 1997 Hebron Agreement, part of the Oslo Accords, placed the Old City in area "H2", maintaining the Israeli military control which it has been under since 1967. According to Btselem report, the Palestinian population in the Old City greatly declined since the early 1980s because of the impact of Israeli security measures, including extended curfews, strict restrictions on movement and the closure of Palestinian commercial activities near settler areas, and also due to settler harassment. "In total, 169 families lived on the three streets in September 2000, when the intifada began. Since then, seventy-three families—forty-three percent—have left their homes." The IDF responded to the report by saying that "The IDF is well aware that curfews are seen as drastic measures, not to be used except for situations where they are essential for protecting the lives of civilians and soldiers ...Hebron is the only Palestinian city in which Israeli and Palestinian residents live side by side. Due to this, and the large number of terrorist attacks against the Israeli residents and the IDF soldiers protecting them, the city poses a complex security challenge." The efforts of the internationally funded Hebron Rehabilitation Committee resulted in the return of more than 6,000 Palestinians by 2015.A ghost city revived: the remarkable transformation of Hebron In 2019, the Temporary International Presence in Hebron was expelled from the city. It issued a confidential report which 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 rehabilitation of the Old City won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1998.
Landmarks
Places of worship Cave of the Patriarchs, including the Al-Jawali Mosque, the Uthman ibn Affan mosque and the Ibrahim hospice Sheikh Ali al-Bakka Mosque Qazzazin Mosque Avraham Avinu Synagogue
Museums Old City Museum, converted from a hotel to a museum in 2021
Districts and subdivisions At the end of the 19th century, the Old City was recorded as being divided into nine quarters:Schick, 1898, p.238 Sheikh 'Aly Bakka quarter ; Zawiya quarter (Haret ez Zawieh) ; Glassmakers quarter (Haret Kezazin) (see Hebron glass); el Akkabeh (quarter of the ascent) ; Haram quarter ; Muheisin quarter (name of a family); Cotton quarter (Haret Kotton) ; The eastern quarter (Haret Mesherky) ; The new quarter ;
The Old City includes three small Israeli settlements on its periphery – Beit Hadassah, , and Avraham Avinu – which have been described as forming a "loosely contiguous Jewish neighbourhood" or a "Jewish Quarter". The Jewish area in the late 19th century was in the Glassmakers quarter (Haret Kezazin).PEF Survey of Palestine, volume III, p.306: "The place is divided into three principal divisions: 1st, including the Haret el Haram (or el Kulah) and Haret Bab er Zawieh, the main part, with the Haram in the centre; 2nd, Haret esh Sheikh, so called from the mosque of Sheikh 'Aly Bukka, which is in it; 3rd, Haret el Mesherky, which is towards the east, on the west side of the main road. The town extends for 3/4 mile parallel to the valley. The houses are well built of stone, with flat roofs having domes in the middle. The most prominent object is the Haram enclosure, standing over the houses. The mosque within and the upper portion of the great enclosing wall were newly whitewashed in 1874, and presented a very dazzling appearance. Since 1875, the town has grown so that these various quarters are almost connected, and the Jews' quarter, especially, has been enlarged. To the four quarters named above must be added six others, viz., Haret el Kezazin, the Jews' quarter, north-west of the Haram; Haret Beni Dar, just west of the Haram; Haret el 'Akkabeh and Haret el Kerad, on the hill behind the Haram; Haret el Muhtcsbin, south-east of the Haram and of the great pool; and Haret es Suwakineh, north of the Haram, east of the Jews' quarter."Biblical Researches in Palestine, volume II, p.446: "The Jewish dwellings are in the N.W. part of the main quarter of the town".
Israeli segregation
The Palestinian population in H2 has greatly declined because of the impact of Israeli security measures, including extended curfews, strict restrictions on movement, and the closure of Palestinian commercial activities near settler areas, and also due to settler harassment. "In total, 169 families lived on the three streets in September 2000, when the intifada began. Since then, seventy-three families—forty-three percent—have left their homes." Palestinians are barred from using Al-Shuhada Street, a principal commercial thoroughfare that is locally nicknamed "Apartheid Street as a result.Hope in Hebron. David Shulman, New York Review of Books, 22 March 2013:″Those who still live on Shuhada Street can't enter their own homes from the street. Some use the rooftops to go in and out, climbing from one roof to another before issuing into adjacent homes or alleys. Some have cut gaping holes in the walls connecting their homes to other (often deserted) houses and thus pass through these buildings until they can exit into a lane outside or up a flight of stairs to a passageway on top of the old casba market. According to a survey conducted by the human-rights organization B’Tselem in 2007, 42 per cent of the Palestinian population in the city center of Hebron (area H2)—some 1,014 families—have abandoned their homes and moved out, most of them to area H1, now under Palestinian control.″
UNESCO nomination
The U.S has provided no funding to UNESCO since Palestine was admitted as a full member in 2011. The Obama administration cited a pre-existing lawThe laws originated in and ; for further details see committee discussions at: . The text of the House and Senate resolutions were subsequently put into the following laws: (which produced ), , and finally (which produced ). See also: that prohibits funding any UN agency or affiliate that grants full membership to non-states, which was put in place after Palestine applied for UNESCO and WHO membership in April 1989.Request for the admission of the State of Palestine to UNESCO as a Member State, UNESCO Executive Board, 131st, 1989 The U.S. and Israel were among just 14 of 194 members that voted against admitting the Palestinians in 2011.
The Executive summary, the Nomination Text, Annexes and Maps (all files located here) are the documents submitted by Palestine to the World Heritage Centre on 30 January 2017 and requested for expedited consideration on May 21, 2017. The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) subsequently sought access to the Old City of Hebron but Israel refused it entry because "On a strategic and principled level, the State of Israel will not take part in and will not legitimize any Palestinian political move under the guise of culture and heritage."
Reporting on the ICOMOS report, the Jerusalem Post noted that "the association of Hebron with Jewish and early Christian societies is given little recognition, and Tell Rumeida [an area of Biblical Hebron] and other sites are excluded from the boundaries," and that "the PA would have done better with an expanded timeline and larger geographical area of the city, which could have spoken of its importance to the development of three monotheistic religions starting from 2200 BCE." while also writing that "The absence of a field visit, plus the limited details of the Palestinian report, meant that ICOMOS "could not fully evaluate" the proposal or confirm that the site met the qualifications for inscription." and that "The actual text of the decision states that ICOMOS was not able to fully evaluate the site due to the absence of a field visit." and "The threats and violations reflect a long-standing and complex political situation" requiring "a political response". Professor and author Lynn Meskell compares the negotiations to list Hebron with the case of Battir, noting that Palestine had documented acts of vandalism, site damage and other attacks on the property and that the Palestinians requested the secretariat for a danger listing to ensure safeguarding and international standards of conservation.