Hebron

"Al-Khalil" redirects here. For other uses, see Al-Khalil (disambiguation) and Hebron (disambiguation).

Hebron الخليل
Metropolis
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic	الخليل
• Latin	Al-Khalīl (official) Al-Ḫalīl (unofficial)
Hebrew transcription(s)
• Hebrew	חברון
• Latin	Ḥeḇrōn (ISO 259-3)
(Top to bottom, left to right) View of Hebron with the Abraham Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs), the Cave of the Patriarchs up close, Old City of Hebron, Tomb of Jesse and Ruth, an artwork on a wall in the city, and Downtown Hebron
Municipal Seal of Hebron
Nickname:  City of the Patriarchs
Interactive map of Hebron
Hebron Location of Hebron within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°31′43″N 35°05′49″E
Palestine grid	159/103
State	State of Palestine (civil governance) Israel (H2 area military control)
Governorate	Hebron
Government
• Type	City / Municipality type A (from 1997)
• Head of Municipality	Yousef Al-Jabari
Area
• Metropolis	74.102 km2 (28.611 sq mi)
Population  (2017)
• Metropolis	201,063
• Density	2,713.3/km2 (7,027.5/sq mi)
• Metro	700,000
Website	www.hebron-city.ps
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town
Criteria	Cultural: ii, iv, vi
Reference	1565
Inscription	2017 (41st Session)
Endangered	2017–
Area	20.6 ha (51 acres)
Buffer zone	152.2 ha (376 acres)

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Hebron is a city in the southern West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Hebron Governorate, which is the largest in the West Bank. It is located 30 kilometers (19 mi) south of Jerusalem. The population inside in the city limits is 201,063, while the adjacent metropolitan area within the governorate is home to over 700,000 people. Hebron spans across an area of 74.1 square kilometers (28.6 sq mi). It is the third largest city in the country after Gaza and East Jerusalem. Hebron is often considered one of the Four Holy Cities in Judaism. It is also venerated in Christianity and Islam.

It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Levant. According to the Bible, Abraham settled in Hebron and bought the Cave of the Patriarchs as a burial place for his wife Sarah. Biblical tradition holds that the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, along with their wives Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, were buried in the cave. The city is also recognized in the Bible as the place where David was anointed king of Israel.

Following the Babylonian captivity, the Edomites settled in Hebron. During the first century BCE, Herod the Great built the wall that still surrounds the Cave of the Patriarchs, which later became a church, and then a mosque. With the exception of a brief Crusader control, successive Muslim dynasties ruled Hebron from the 7th century CE until the Ottoman Empire's dissolution following World War I, when the city became part of British Mandatory Palestine.

The 1929 Hebron massacre of nearly 70 Jews and the Arab uprising of 1936–39 led the British government to evacuate the Jewish community from Hebron. The 1948 Arab–Israeli War saw the entire West Bank, including Hebron, occupied and annexed by Jordan, and since the 1967 Six-Day War, the city has been under Israeli control. Following Israeli occupation, Jewish presence was restored in the city. Since the 1997 Hebron Protocol, most of Hebron has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority. The city is often described as a "microcosm" of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. The 1997 protocol divided the city into two sectors—H1 Hebron, governed by the Palestinian National Authority, and H2 Hebron, occupied by Israeli authorities. All security arrangements and travel permits for local residents are coordinated between the Palestinian Authority and Israel via the COGAT. The Jewish settlers have their own governing municipal body, the Committee of the Jewish Community of Hebron.

The largest city in the southern West Bank, Hebron is a chief commercial and industrial center in the region. It is a busy hub of trade, generating roughly a third of the area's GDP, largely due to the sale of limestone from quarries in its area. Hebron has a local reputation for its grapes, figs, ceramics, plastics, pottery workshops, metalworking and glassblowing industry. The city is home to numerous shopping malls. The Old City of Hebron features narrow, winding streets, flat-roofed stone houses, and old bazaars. It is recognized as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. Hebron is also known as a regional educational and medical hub.