Hebron Tour

Day 13: Today, I went on a Hebron Dual Narrative Tour. I was hesitant about going on the tour as Trump’s peace plan had just been presented and today was supposed to be a Day of Rage in the Palestinian Territories, where Hebron is located. Before I even went to Israel, I received this email letter from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem (I had registered with the U.S. State Department for their Safe Travelers Program), which said there were Heightened Middle East Tensions and security risks to U.S. citizens abroad. The letter also gave instructions as what to do if a rocket was coming in. The night before the Hebron trip, I received an email from the embassy that it was restricting its personal from traveling the next day.

Hebron Tour

As I didn’t receive an email that the Hebron tour would be canceled, I called the tour company early to find out if the tour was still on––it was. I asked my Israeli guide, Eric, about going to Hebron and he told me not to worry. Also, that if there would be any protests, it wouldn’t be until 3 p.m. and we would be gone from Hebron by then. We weren’t but there was no trouble in Hebron, but there was later when I was already safely home. Photo of Eric. He was a great guide, full of interesting information.

Hebron Tour

We got on our bulletproof bus to Hebron, about 30 minutes away from Jerusalem. I guess this type of bus made us feel safer or else thinking that we should be worried about something.

Palestinian Guide

We would have two guides on the tour: Eric, our Jewish guide for the Jewish area of Hebron, and Mohammad (in the photo) for the Palestinian area of Hebron. The tour was to give both sides of the story of Hebron, from the Jewish side and from the Palestinian side. The Hebron Protocol of 1997 divided the city into two sectors: H1, controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and H2, administered by Israel. There is not free movement before the sectors, causing resentment on both sides, sometimes the resentment leading to violence.

Ibrahimi Mosque

We first went to the Ibrahimi Mosque inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which has both a mosque and a synagogue. When you go into a mosque, you must first remove your shoes. At this mosque, we women had to don these blue cloaks.

Ibrahimi Mosque

Inside the mosque.

Hebron Old Market

We next went to the old market. To go into the market, we had to go through security. Mohammad told us there are numerous security checkpoints that they have to go through, 21 permanent checkpoints and over 70 permanent blockades. Almost all the shops were closed as the shop owners were on strike. The were striking against the economy. A net is above the market and also some additional covering. This is because of the “illegal” Jewish settlement above the market (illegal according to international law; legal according to Israel). The net is to prevent what is thrown down to the market by the Jewish settlers to hit the shoppers. Sometimes, water and bleach are thrown down as well.

Hebron Old Market

One of the shop owners opened his store for us. Hebron is known for its crafts and glass blowing, though we didn’t see any glass items. There were a lot of different items to buy here.

Old Hebron

Walking through Old Hebron. Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank.

Lunch in a Palestinian Home

We ate lunch in a Palestinian home. My lunch in the photo––it was delicious. There was also a vegetarian lunch.

Walk Through Hebron

There was only a squat toilet at the Palestinian home. Brenda, who works for Abraham Tours as an observer, offered to take me back to the Western toilet that we used when we first got to Hebron. It was a long but very interesting walk. Photo: one of my favorite photos I took during the walk.

Jewish Side of Hebron

Eric was our guide through the Jewish side of Hebron. The Jewish side of Hebron has a very long history. It is one of the Four Holy Cities of Israel. It has both Jewish and Islamic history. The plaque on the wall tells you some of its Jewish history: “After the signing of the Hebron Accords of 1997, Hebron was divided, leaving Jews with access to 3% of the city. Jews were restricted to only one street, one kilometer long. In September 2000, Arabs launched the Oslo War (aka The Second Intifada): a terror war against Hebron’s Jewish residents and visitors. Following the attacks and casualties, these stores were closed by military orders for security reasons. Large thriving commercial and shopping centers off limits to Jews are open in the Arab part of the city.”

View of Hebron

View of Hebron from a hill we were walking on.

The Hill

The hill we were walking up went up and up and on and on. I think it was one of the longest and steepest hills that I have ever climbed up.

Tomb of Ruth and David

We walked up to the tomb of Ruth and David, the great–grandmother and the father of King David of Israel and Judea.

Murals of the Jewish People in Hebron

A series of murals were on a wall of the history of the Jewish people in Hebron.

Avraham Avinu Synagogue

We next visited the Avraham Avinu Synagogue, originally built in 1540. The synagogue stood empty since the 1929 Hebron massacre and was destroyed after 1948. In 1971, it started being rebuilt.

Hebron Jewish Speaker

We next went to a cafe to hear the Jewish side of the Hebron story. The gist of it was that the Jews should have all of Hebron because it says so in the Bible. His bitterness about the conflict matched the bitterness displayed by our Palestinian guide, Mohammad.

Tomb of the Patriarchs

Next was to the Jewish side of the Tomb of the Patriarchs. By this time, I was too tired to climb more stairs and didn’t go in. You can Google it to see photos. The tour gave us a better understanding of the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel but also left us with many questions. A very interesting tour to take. We then went back to Jerusalem. Our bulletproof bus was on time.

I have put my photos of Hebron on two slideshows. Go to
https://www.peggysphotos.com/hebron–west–bank–1/ and https://www.peggysphotos.com/hebron–west–bank–2/ (Slide Shows, Middle East, Israel/West Bank, Jordan, “Hebron, West Bank–1 and –2”).