'''Hebron''' is an ancient city in the southern West Bank. It is mentioned in the Bible as the home of Abraham, and the burial place of him and several generations of his family. In King David's time, Hebron was briefly the capital of the Israelite state, before the capital moved to Jerusalem. Today, Hebron is holy to both Muslims and Jews due to its association with Abraham.

After 1967, a few Jewish settlers moved into eastern Hebron, where they live under continual Israeli army protection. The rest of the city is Palestinian, and the city is now divided in two (with lots of soldiers patrolling the dividing line). The Cave of Machpelah, Abraham's burial place and the main holy site in the city, is on the border between the Arab and Jewish sectors.

Get in

You can take the 160 bus from the Jerusalem Central Bus station to the Jewish side of Hebron. Check that it goes into Hebron and not just to the nearby Jewish suburb of Kiryat Arba. Otherwise you could walk from Kiryat Arba, but that might be dangerous.

There are probably Palestinian buses from Bethlehem to the Arab side of Hebron.

Get around

See

The Cave of Machpelah is the main religious site in the city. The cave itself is deep underground, and now people pray in a building on top of it, which was built by King Herod about 2000 years ago.

Most of the time, half of the building is used for Muslim and half for Jewish prayer. On a few predetermined days each year, each religion gets to use the entire building. For the Jews, in addition to the normal holidays, one of these days is "Shabbat Chayei Sarah" each fall, on which thousands of people from all of Israel visit Hebron to commemorate Abraham's purchase of the Cave from its previous Hittite owners.

Do

  • A group of former Israeli soldiers who've served in Hebron called '''Breaking the Silence''' offers tours of Hebron that explain the harsh political situation of the city. Tours leave from Binyanei Hauma near the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. Visit their website to find out when the next tour is and schedule one. [http://www.shovrimshtika.org/index_e.asp]
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