Jews and Arabs have lived peacefully in Hebron for centuries. A majority of the Jews of Hebron came from Spain after the Jews where expelled from that country in 1492. In 1929, however, during the Arab riots in the Palestinian areas, the unrest also spread to Hebron where 67 Jews were killed and several hundred injured. Following these mass killings most of the remaining Jewish population in Hebron was evacuated to Jerusalem by the British Mandate Authorities.

After the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, a policy of settlement building on the occupied territory was set in motion. One of the first settlements to be built was Kiryat Arba outside Hebron.

Beit Hadassa was the first location in which Jews settled in downtown Hebron since 1929. In 1979 a group of ten women, among them Miriam Levinger, and 40 children entered Beit Hadassa – vacant at the time - and refused to leave.

The Israeli Government led by Prime Minister Menachem Begin opposed to recognize the presence of the new Jewish Community in Hebron, while at the same time did not support removing the settlers by force. Instead, the building was placed under siege. In May 1980, one year after the women had entered Beit Hadassah, six yeshiva students were killed. Following the incident, the Israeli Government decided to allow the women’s husbands to enter Beit Hadassah. Their presence was ultimately recognized and the building was rehabilitated and extended with the support of the Israeli Government.

The Beit Hadassah settlement consists of a cluster of buildings: Beit Hadassah, Beit Castel, Beit Hasson, Beit Schneerson, Beit Fink, Beit Hashisha [House of Six] (referred to as “Al-Dabboya” by Palestinians). Inside Beit Hadassah, the settlers have estabkished a museum of the Jewish history of Hebron and a memorial room for the 67 Jews killed by Arab rioters in the 1929 massacre.

The ground floor of Beit Hadassa was established around 1880, by Jews living in Hebron. From the beginning, the building was supposed to be a hospital for the Jewish community, but it remained unfinished for different reasons, among them financial ones. Around 1909, the hospital on the second floor of Beit Hadassah was completed. It was operational until the 1930s. After the last Jews were evacuated from the city in 1936, the building was used inter alia as a diary factory.

After 1948, under Jordanian rule, the buildings were used by a school run by UNRWA. In the mid-1970s, the contract between the Israeli Guardian of Absentee and Enemy land and UNRWA was terminated.

A security net is covering the street beside the settlement of Beit Hadassah, in order to protect Palestinians walking in the street from stones and other objects thorwn down from the settlement.

Avraham Avinu is the largest of the downtown settlements and located at the southern entrance of the Wholesale Market. The settlement is built on the site of the Old Jewish Quarter of Hebron, where there also was a synagogue. The settlement was built in the early 1980s with the permission of the Israeli Government.

Beit Romano (referred to as Madrasat Usama by Palestinians) consists of a yeshiva - Yeshivat Shavei Hevron - and an IDF military base. According to the settlers, the first Beit Romano was constructed in 1879 by Avraham (Haim) Romano, a wealthy Jew from Turkey, as a home for the elderly of the Turkish community. In 1917, the British confiscated the building and used it as headquarter and Police station. In 1948, the Jordanians opened a boy’s school at the site called Usama ibn Munqidh. The school was closed by the IDF in 1981/82 for security reasons. In 1980 the Israeli government permitted the restoration and expansion of Beit Romano as we see it today.Yeshivat Shavei Hevron was established in Beit Romano in 1983.

Tel Rumeida settlement is located on a hilltop overlooking the old city of Hebron, separated from the other settlements. It is said to be located on the original Biblical Hebron, home of the Jewish patriarchs and King David. On the southern part of the hill are two tombs, believed to be the Tombs of Jesse (father of King David) and Ruth (grandmother of King David).

In 1984 a group of seven Jewish families placed portable caravans on the hilltop, calling it the Admot Yishai neighbourhood. The construction of permanent buildings was approved by the Israeli Government following the murder of one of the residents, Rabbi Shlomo Ra’anan, in August 1998.

Tel Rumeida Settlement. No Palestinians, only Israelis, are permitted to drive in the settlement area of H2. Palestinian vehicles need special permits.

Settlements in Hebron outside the AOR of the TIPH

Outside the city of Hebron (TIPH’s Area of Responsibility) there are five settlements of which the biggest is Kiryat Arba. Kiryat Arba has approximately 6000 inhabitants, and borders the TIPH Area of Responsibility.

The other surrounding settlements are Givat Ha’avot:east of Hebron, Ha-Kharsina; east of Hebron, north of Kiryat Arba, Beit Khagai; south of Hebron and Har Mano’akh; south of Hebron