Hebron: History and Controversy

The City of the Patriarchs

Few places in the world carry as much historical weight — or as much contemporary pain — as Hebron. Located thirty kilometers south of Jerusalem in the Judean hills, Hebron is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth and one of the four holy cities of Judaism (along with Jerusalem, Tiberias, and Safed).

Its holiness rests on a single transaction described in Genesis 23: Abraham’s purchase of the Cave of Machpelah as a burial place for his wife Sarah. According to tradition, the cave holds the remains of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah — three generations of patriarchs and matriarchs. The Bible identifies this as the first piece of land ever purchased by a Hebrew in the land of Canaan.

Biblical and Ancient History

Hebron’s significance in biblical history extends beyond the burial cave. It was one of the cities given to Caleb after the conquest under Joshua. More significantly, it served as King David’s first capital. David ruled from Hebron for seven and a half years before capturing Jerusalem and making it his permanent seat of power (II Samuel 2-5).

The massive stone structure built over the Cave of Machpelah — known as the Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslims and the Tomb of the Patriarchs to Jews — dates in its current form to the reign of Herod the Great (first century BCE). Its enormous ashlar stones, laid without mortar, are characteristic of Herodian architecture and remain standing after two thousand years.

Under Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Mamluk, and Ottoman rule, the site changed hands repeatedly. Muslims revered the patriarchs as prophets of Islam and controlled the site for most of the medieval and early modern periods. Jews were generally prohibited from entering the building — allowed only to ascend to the seventh step of the exterior staircase.

Jewish Life in Hebron

Despite restrictions, a Jewish community existed in Hebron for centuries. In the sixteenth century, Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain established a community there. By the nineteenth century, both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews lived in the city, maintaining synagogues, yeshivot, and charitable institutions.

The relationship between Jews and Arabs in Hebron was complex — periods of coexistence alternated with tension. Many Jewish families had Arab neighbors with whom they maintained commercial and sometimes personal relationships.

The 1929 Massacre

On August 24, 1929, in the context of wider Arab-Jewish violence across Mandate Palestine, an Arab mob attacked the Jewish community of Hebron. Over several days, 67 Jews were killed and many more wounded. The violence was horrific — victims were stabbed, mutilated, and burned.

Some Arab families sheltered Jewish neighbors at great personal risk — a fact that both complicates and humanizes the narrative. But the scale of the massacre was devastating. The British authorities evacuated the surviving Jewish community. For the first time in centuries, no Jews lived in Hebron.

The 1929 massacre remains a deep wound in Jewish collective memory and a central reference point in discussions about Jewish rights in Hebron.

After 1967

Israel captured the West Bank, including Hebron, during the Six-Day War in 1967. Soon after, a group of Jewish settlers led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger established a presence in the city, initially in a hotel and later in the settlement of Kiryat Arba on Hebron’s outskirts. Over subsequent decades, small Jewish communities were established in the heart of the Old City.

The settler presence in Hebron is among the most controversial aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Several hundred Jewish settlers live in fortified enclaves within the city, protected by a substantial Israeli military presence. The impact on the surrounding Palestinian population — restricted movement, closed streets, military checkpoints — has been documented extensively by international organizations and Israeli human rights groups.

The Cave Today

The Cave of Machpelah is currently divided between Jewish and Muslim worship areas, following the 1994 massacre in which an Israeli settler, Baruch Goldstein, killed 29 Muslim worshippers during Ramadan prayers. The division allows both communities access to the site, but under separate arrangements that reflect the city’s fractured reality.

For Jewish visitors, entering the cave is a powerful experience — standing in the space where tradition holds that the patriarchs and matriarchs are buried, connecting to the very beginning of the Jewish story.

The Weight of History

Hebron embodies the tragic complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more intensely than almost any other place. Jewish historical and religious claims to the city are deep and genuine. Palestinian claims to their homes, livelihoods, and dignity are equally real. The city where Abraham bought a cave to bury his wife — the first real estate transaction in the Bible — remains a place where questions of ownership, justice, and coexistence resist easy answers.