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Hebron: Prostrate on the graves of ancestors

Place: Hebron
Observers: Ariella Slonim and Hagit Bak (report), Tal H. translated
Feb-10-2020
| Morning
Hebron: A checkpoint in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in front of the Chabad cemetery
Hebron: A checkpoint in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in front of the Chabad cemetery
Photo: Hagit Back
Hebron: The checkpoint located in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in front of the Chabad cemetery
Hebron: The checkpoint located in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in front of the Chabad cemetery
Photo: Hagit Back
Hebron graveyard: relatives of our members
Hebron graveyard: relatives of our members
Photo: Hagit Back

It’s a cold day, with snowflakes in the air. For the moment, at least from what we see, the “deal of the century” and its opposers have given in to the weather…

At the entrance to Hebron, near the army base on Harsina Hill stand numerous APCs, looking quite ready for action.

The army cameras caught us taking pictures and consequently we were held up by the soldiers near the entrance to the Old City of Hebron.

A soldier on a week’s guard duty got his instructions from the HQ operated jointly by the army and the Kiryat Arba settler-colonists’ council. We waited for the Kiryat Arba security official’s car. He came after ten mintues, saw us, recognized us, smiled and released us.

The essential problem here is the right to detain us, and the fact that soldiers receive their orders from civilians.

Ariella Slonim and I (Hagit Bak) are both descendants of families that were an inseparable part of the (historic) Jewish community of Hebron, in the 1929 riots (when resident Jews were massacred). We decided to hold a ‘roots’ journey to the Hassidic part of the cemetery.

We wished to make a statement by actually being there that other ways are possible.

It was a cold day – both for the heart and the weather. How much evil can one actually get used to…

  • Hebron

    See all reports for this place

    • According to Wye Plantation Accords (1997), Hebron is divided in two: H1 is under Palestinian Authority control, H2 is under Israeli control. In Hebron there are 170,000 Palestinian citizens, 60,000 of them in H2. Between the two areas are permanent checkpoints, manned at all hours, preventing Palestinian movement between them and controlling passage of permit holders such as teachers and schoolchildren. Some 800 Jews live in Avraham Avinu Quarter and Tel Rumeida, on Givat HaAvot and in the wholesale market.

       

      Checkpoints observed in H2:

       

      1. Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
      2. Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
      3. The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
      4. Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
      5. The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
      6. Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
      7. Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
      8. Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station

      Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs

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      Muhammad D.
      May-13-2026
      Hebron - Request for compensation for land expropriation
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