Hebron

(Hevron)

   Sometimes referred to as Kiryat Arba; a town southwest of Jerusalem in the hills of Judea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world and played an important part in the ancient history of the Jewish people. It was the residence of the Jewish patriarchs and served as King David's capital before he conquered Jerusalem. According to Jewish tradition, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their wives (Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah) are buried in Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs (Machpela). The traditional site of the cave, over which a mosque was erected, is one of the most sacred of Jewish shrines. King David first ascended the throne there.

   Hebron was a town of uninterrupted Jewish presence from ancient times until August 1929, when 67 Jews were killed and some 60 others were wounded in Arab riots. Between Israel's War of Independence (1948^49) and the Six-Day War (1967), when Israel captured the city, Israelis had no access to the city or the cave. The Arabs call it Al Halil. The meaning of the name Al Halil is "the friend" or "lover," the nickname given to Abraham, considered a holy man in Islam, who lived and was buried in Hebron. His full nickname, Al Halil Al Rachman, means "the lover of the God." In Isaiah's prophesy, God calls Abraham "my friend" (Isaiah 41:8), and in the Book of Second Chronicles, he is called "Abraham, God's friend" (2 Chronicles 20:7). In the Koran, it is written "saintly Abraham, whom Allah himself chose to be his friend [in Arabic: Ibrahim Hallilian]" (Koran 4, Women 125). The Jewish legend finds in the name Hebron a combination of the two words Haver-Naeh, meaning "a nice company" or "friend," which alludes to Abraham because it was said, "a nice friend—that is Abraham" (Genesis 4:13).

   After the Six-Day War, Israelis flocked to Hebron's religious sites, and it became a central focus of activity for Gush Emunim. Rabbi Moshe Levinger and his 450 or so followers, situated in a series of buildings in Hebron, along with the residents of the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba, are among the strongest opponents of territorial concessions to the Palestinians. Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs (Ibrahim Mosque) was the site of the massacre of 29 Arab worshipers by Dr. Baruch Goldstein in February 1994. In January 1997, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization concluded an agreement to transfer control of 80 percent of Hebron to Palestinian authority, with the Israel Defense Forces remaining in the other 20 percent to protect the city's Jewish population.

   See also Hebron Massacre; Tomb of the Patriarchs.