Hebron

Basic Information

Type

City

Governorate

Hebron

Region

West Bank - Southern

Historical Significance

One of the four holy cities in Judaism; traditional burial site of the Patriarchs (al-Khalil means 'Friend of God,' referring to Abraham). The Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of Machpelah has been a place of worship for over 2,000 years. Hebron was a major Canaanite city-state and later an important center during Israelite, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman, and British periods. Since 1967, Hebron has become the starkest example of Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank — where a few hundred settlers control the city center with military backing, displacing thousands of Palestinian residents and destroying the city's economic and social fabric. The city stands as a symbol of Palestinian sumud (steadfastness) in the face of systematic dispossession.