Israeli–Palestinian conflict in Hebron

The Hebron massacre was the killing of sixty-seven or sixty-nine Jews on 24 August 1929 in Hebron, then part of Mandatory Palestine, by Arabs incited to violence by rumors that Jews were planning to seize control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The event also left scores seriously wounded or maimed. Jewish homes were pillaged and synagogues were ransacked. Some of the 435 Jews who survived were hidden by local Arab families, although the extent of this phenomenon is debated. Soon after, all Hebron's Jews were evacuated by the British authorities. Many returned in 1931, but almost all were evacuated at the outbreak of the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine. The massacre formed part of the 1929 Palestine riots, in which a total of 133 Jews and 110 Arabs were killed, the majority of the latter by British police and military, and brought the centuries-old Jewish presence in Hebron to an end. The massacre, together with that of Jews in Safed, sent shock waves through Jewish communities in Palestine and around the world. It led to the re-organization and development of the Jewish paramilitary organization, the Haganah, which later became the nucleus of the Israel Defense Forces.

Hebron (Arabic: الخليل al-Khalīl, or خَلِيل الرَّحْمَن Khalīl al-Raḥmān; Hebrew: חֶבְרוֹן Ḥevrōn, ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies 930 metres (3,050 ft) above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East Jerusalem), and the third-largest in the Palestinian territories (after East Jerusalem and Gaza), it had a population of 201,063 Palestinians in 2017, and seven hundred Jewish settlers concentrated on the outskirts of its Old City. It includes the Cave of the Patriarchs, which Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions all designate as the burial site of three key patriarchal/matriarchal couples. The city is often considered one of the four holy cities in Judaism as well as in Islam.Hebron is considered one of the oldest cities in the Levant. According to the Bible, Abraham settled in Hebron and bought the Cave of the Patriarchs as a burial place for his wife Sarah. Biblical tradition holds that the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, along with their wives Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, were buried in the cave. Hebron is also recognized in the Bible as the place where David was anointed king of Israel. Following the Babylonian captivity, the Edomites settled in Hebron. During the first century BCE, Herod the Great built the wall which still surrounds the Cave of the Patriarchs, which later became a church, and then a mosque. With the exception of a brief Crusader control, successive Muslim dynasties ruled Hebron from the 6th century CE until the Ottoman Empire's dissolution following World War I, when the city became part of British Mandatory Palestine. A massacre in 1929 and the Arab uprising of 1936–39 led to the emigration of the Jewish community from Hebron. The 1948 Arab–Israeli War saw the entire West Bank, including Hebron, occupied and annexed by Jordan, and since the 1967 Six-Day War, the city has been under Israeli military occupation. Following Israeli occupation, Jewish presence was reestablished at the city. Since the 1997 Hebron Protocol, most of Hebron has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority. The city is often described as a "microcosm" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. The Hebron Protocol of 1997 divided the city into two sectors: H1, controlled by the Palestinian National Authority, and H2, roughly 20% of the city, including 35,000 Palestinians, under Israeli military administration. All security arrangements and travel permits for local residents are coordinated between the Palestinian National Authority and Israel via the Israeli military administration of the West Bank (COGAT). The Jewish settlers have their own governing municipal body, the Committee of the Jewish Community of Hebron. Today, Hebron is the capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest governorate of the State of Palestine, with an estimated population of around 782,227 as of 2021. It is a busy hub of West Bank trade, generating roughly a third of the area's gross domestic product, largely due to the sale of limestone from quarries in its area. It has a local reputation for its grapes, figs, limestone, pottery workshops and glassblowing factories. The old city of Hebron features narrow, winding streets, flat-roofed stone houses, and old bazaars. The city is home to Hebron University and the Palestine Polytechnic University.

Princess Alia Governmental Hospital or Hebron Governmental Hospital is a government hospital in the Hebron city, West Bank, Palestine. It is managed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It was built in 1957 and has 237 beds. It employs 596 staff, including a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, physiotherapist, laboratory technician, radiologist and others.

The old Jewish cemetery in Hebron, is located to the west of the Tomb of Machpela on a hill and has been used as a Jewish cemetery for hundreds of years, as attested to by Ishtori Haparchi, who noted a Jewish cemetery in the area in 1322. Other sources indicate the cemetery being mentioned in a letter dated to 1290. Among the prominent rabbinical sages and community figures buried in the cemetery include Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas known as the Reshit Hokhma, Rabbi Abraham Azulai, Rabbi Solomon Adeni, Rabbi Elijah Mizrachi, Rabbi Chaim Hezekiah Medini known as the Sdei Chemed, Rabbi Judah Bibas, Rabbi Haim Rahamim Yosef Franco, Rabbi Hillel Moshe Gelbstein, Rabbi Shimon Menashe Chaikin, and Menucha Rochel Slonim. Menachem Mendel of Kamenitz, the first hotelier in the Land of Israel, references his visit to the grave of Eliyahu de Vidas in his 1839 book Sefer Korot Ha-Itim. He states, "here I write of the graves of the righteous to which I paid my respects." After describing the Cave of Machpela and the tombs of such Biblical figures as Ruth and Jesse, Othniel Ben Knaz and Abner Ben Ner, he reports, "I also went to a grave said to be that of the Righteous Rav, author of "Reshit Hokhma."During the Jordanian period (1948–1967), the cemetery was intentionally destroyed and the site was cultivated by Arab residents for growing produce. Around 4,000 tombstones were removed and used for construction purposes.In the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel convened an inter-ministerial investigating committee to determine the scope of the desecration to Jewish holy sites under Jordanian rule. A local resident declared that before he ploughed the cemetery, a Muslim priest gave him permission "to clean away the graves of the Jews." A former member of the Hebron city council testified that a prominent Palestinian Arab councilor told him that the Jewish cemetery had been destroyed by direct order of the Jordanian government.After Jews returned to Hebron, they requested that the old Jewish cemetery be reopened. As it was located in a hilly residential area opposite Hebron's main market, initially the Israeli government prohibited the cemetery from being used. The cemetery was re-opened for civilian use once again in 1975 when Avraham Yedidya, the sixth month old child of an Hasidic artist Baruch Nachshon and his wife Sarah died of cot death. Initially the Israeli government refused permission to avoid angering local Palestinians, The bereaved mother walked past the roadblock and commiserating soldiers let her pass. Following the burial, the community made efforts to clean up the cemetery. Prof. Ben Zion Tavger, a Russian-Jewish physicist and refusenik who moved to Hebron initiated the refurbishing efforts in the mid 1970s. In time, refurbished tombstones were installed bearing the names of original community members. Since then the site has both attracted visitors from around Israel as well as being targeted by vandalism. The cemetery also contains four mass graves with the remains of 59 victims of the 1929 Hebron massacre. A corner of the cemetery contains the remains of several Torah scrolls and Jewish prayer books which were torn up and set alight on the eve of Yom Kippur on October 3, 1976, at the Cave of the Patriarchs by rioters. Every year hundreds of members of the Chabad Lubavitch hasidic movement attend the anniversary of the passing of Menucha Rochel Slonim, a granddaughter of the founder of Chabad, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and a matriarch of the Hebron Jewish community. After a visit to the cemetery, a festive meal and gathering is held attracting top rabbis from around the country.A small synagogue and learning center was established in a historic building atop the cemetery called the Menucha Rochel kollel.It was the tradition of the Hebron community not to engrave names on tombstones. Due to the expulsion of the community and subsequent vandalism of the cemetery, the exact identification of many plots were lost. In 2016 a map was discovered that identifies the location of the graves.

Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU; Arabic: جامعة بوليتكنك فلسطين) is a university located in Hebron, West Bank, Palestine. The school was founded in 1978 by the University Graduates Union (UGU), a non-profit organization in Hebron. Enrollment in 2007 exceeded 5000 students.PPU has five colleges: College of Engineering, College of Information Technology and Computer Engineering, College of Applied Science, College of Administrative Science and Informatics and College of Applied Professions. It offers a master's degree in Mechatronics, Mathematics, Biotechnology, and Informatics. It offers two-year diploma degrees and a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. PPU is recognized by the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education and is an member in the Rector Conference of Palestinian Universities, in the Islamic University Union, in the Arabic University Union, and in the Universal University Union.

The Tomb of Othniel Ben Kenaz is a burial cave located in Hebron. The cave contains ten burial niches, one of which is for Othniel, the first of the Israelite judges. The cave is a popular destination for the Jewish people and holiday prayer services are held there.

The Church of the Holy Forefathers and Monastery of the Holy Trinity (Russian: храм св. Праотцев и Троицкий монастырь), also known as Al Maskobiya (Arabic: كنيسة المسكوبية), is a Russian Orthodox monastery and church in Hebron, Palestine, founded in the 20th century on the site of the ancient Oak of Mamre.The lands were acquired by Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) for the Russian Church in the 19th century and later expanded. It was held by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) until 1997, when Palestinian authorities turned the compound over to the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church. Ownership disputes continue, although the ROCOR in 2007 restored its ties as a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church.It is located approximately 4 km to the southwest of Haram al-Ramat Mamre, the site of another "oak of Abraham" described by Josephus, surrounded with an enclosure by Herod the Great, and where Constantine the Great built a basilica in the 4th century.

Sheikh Ali al-Bakka Mosque or Shaykh Ali al-Baka Mosque (Arabic: مسجد الشيخ علي بكاء) is a 13th-century mosque in the northwestern section of the Old City of Hebron in the southern West Bank, Palestine. It is situated in the Harat ash-Sheikh (or Sheik Ali al-Bakka) quarter, one of the Old City's quarters, which is named after the mosque.The mosque was founded by the Husam ad-Din Turuntay in 1282 during the reign of Mamluk sultan al-Mansur Qalawun. Turuntay was the representative of the sultan in Jerusalem. The sanctuary is named after Sheikh Ali al-Bakka, a renowned Sufi religious leader from Iraq who lived in Hebron. The minaret was erected by the viceroy and practical strongman of the sultanate, Sayf al-Din Salar (d. 1310).The original mosque was mostly demolished, however the minaret still stands and is viewed as an exemplary work of Mamluk architecture. Sitting on a rectangular base, its shaft has a hexagonal shape. The minaret base has an arched corridor which leads to the courtyard. In 1978 a new mosque was built on the site, but preserved the remains of the original mosque.

Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian who had stabbed an Israeli soldier, was fatally shot on March 24, 2016, in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron, by Elor Azaria, an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier. Azaria shot Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in the head as the latter lay wounded on the ground. Azaria was arrested and the Israeli Military Police opened an investigation against him for the charge of murder, but later reduced the charge to manslaughter. The soldier's act sparked widespread public debate in Israel, that became a continuation of an already widespread debate over how one should implement the rules of engagement orders in the wake of the wave of Palestinian political violence. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, twelve months' probation, plus a demotion in rank. He was released from prison after serving nine months.

Tel Rumeida (Arabic: تل رميدة; Hebrew: תל רומיידה), also known as Jabla al-Rahama and referred to by Israeli settlers as Tel Hebron is an archaeological, agricultural and residential area in the West Bank city of Hebron. Within it, lies a tell whose remains go back to the Chalcolithic period, and is thought to constitute the Canaanite, Israelite and Edomite settlements of Hebron mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple period literature.While most of the site's area is used as an agricultural land, it is also the location of a Palestinian neighbourhood and an Israeli settlement. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

The tomb of Jesse and Ruth (Hebrew: קבר ישי ורות, romanized: Kever Yishai v'Rut) is an ancient tomb with a small Jewish synagogue, located within the ruin of Deir Al Arba'een in the Tel Rumeida section of Hebron, in the State of Palestine. In the Jewish tradition, the tomb of Jesse and Ruth and considered to be sacred sites. The place is in area H2 of Hebron, under Israeli control. The small synagogue is located in the room adjacent to the tomb and it receives visitors throughout the year, especially on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, in which the Book of Ruth is read.

Hussein Bin Ali Stadium is an association football stadium in Hebron.