TravelTips24 : Asia : Middle East : Palestinian Territories : West Bank : Hebron
Hebron
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.
Travel to Hebron & Visa Requirements
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.
Tours & Getting around Hebron
Hebron attractions and sightseeing
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.
Hebron city tours
Hebron souvenirs & shopping
Hebron Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive
Hebron nightlife, bars, clubs & pubs
Hebron cheap and luxurious hotels, youth hostels & lodging
Get out
This page was last edited at 17:18, on 2 November 2008 by Ryan Holliday. Based on work by Tom Holland, Wikitravel user(s) Episteme and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel.
Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license