Editing Hebron (section)

=== Occupation and settlements ===
In 1968, Rabbi [[Moshe Levinger]] and a group of Israelis, disguised as tourists, rented the main hotel in Hebron and refused to leave.<ref>Ami Pedahzur, Arie Perliger. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DF03xwLaPucC&pg=PA69 ''Jewish Terrorism in Israel'']. Columbia University Press. 2011. p. 72.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Gorenberg|2007|p=356}}</ref> The government initially wanted to evacuate the settlers but eventually allowed them to relocate to a nearby military base, which became the settlement of [[Kiryat Arba]].<ref name="AIC_2004_10-12">[http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/opt_prot_aic_hebron_dec_2004.pdf ''Occupation in Hebron''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105174717/http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/opt_prot_aic_hebron_dec_2004.pdf|date=January 5, 2016}}, pp. 10–12. Alternative Information Center, 2004</ref> After lobbying efforts, the settlement gained support from some Israeli leaders. Over time, the settlement expanded with the [[Israeli outpost|outpost]] [[Givat Ha'avot]].<ref>{{harvnb|Gorenberg|2007|pp=205, 359}}.</ref> The operation was planned and financed by the [[Movement for Greater Israel]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lustick|1988|p=205 n.1}}</ref> In 2011, the [[Israeli Supreme Court]] ruled that Jews have no right to properties they possessed in places like Hebron before 1948 and are not entitled to compensation for their losses.<ref name="Levinsohn2011" /> Originally named Hesed l'Avraham, Beit Hadassah was constructed in 1893 with donations of [[Baghdadi Jews|Baghdadi Jewish]] families and was the only modern medical facility in Hebron. In 1909, it was renamed after [[Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America]], which took responsibility for the medical staff and provided free medical care to all.<ref name="HebronJews">{{harvnb|Auerbach|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ooUqc8snyZUC&pg=PA60 60]}}</ref> In 1979, a group of 15 settler mothers and their 35 children squatted in the Dabouia building in Hebron, exploiting the government's indecision during [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty|negotiations with Egypt]].{{sfn|Neuman|2018|pp=79-80}} Led by Miriam Levinger, they established a bridgehead for Jewish resettlement and created conflict with Arab shopkeepers.<ref name=":3">{{harvnb|Perera|1996|pp=178}}: "As I made my way to the Machpelah, I passed a curious scene. The Hadassah hospital of Hebron, which is Arab-administered, had been taken over by Israeli women of Kiryat Arba, the new settlement on the hill overlooking the city. Miriam Levinger, wife of Moshe Levinger, the militant right-wing rabbi who founded Kiryat Arba, was screaming in her Brooklyn-accented Hebrew at the Palestinian police, who were – very politely – attempting to remove the women from the hospital grounds."</ref> A retaliatory attack by a Palestinian group resulted in the death of six yeshiva students.<ref name=":3" /> Despite appeals to the Israeli Supreme Court, the settlers remained.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vitullo |first=Anita |year=2003 |title=People Tied to Place: Strengthening Cultural Identity in Hebron's Old City |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=33 |issue=1 |page=72 |doi=10.1525/jps.2003.33.1.68 |issn=0377-919X}}</ref> The following year, the government legitimized residency in Hebron and expelled the elected mayor.<ref>{{harvnb|Kretzmer|2002|pp=117–18}}</ref> This pattern of settlement followed by hostilities with Palestinians was repeated in Tel Rumeida.<ref>{{harvnb|Falah|1985|p=253}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bouckaert|2001|p=86}}</ref>{{sfn|Neuman|2018|pp=79-80}}[[File:Abraham Avinu Synagogue, Hebron.jpg|thumb|Abraham Avinu Synagogue in 1925]]
The [[Abraham Avinu Synagogue]] was the physical and spiritual center of its neighborhood and regarded as one of the most beautiful synagogs in Palestine. It was the center of Jewish worship in Hebron until it was burnt down during the [[1929 Hebron massacre|1929 riots]]. In 1948 under Jordanian rule, the remaining ruins were razed.<ref>{{harvnb|Auerbach|2009|pp=40, 45, 79}}</ref> The Avraham Avinu quarter was established next to the Vegetable and Wholesale Markets on [[Al-Shuhada Street]] in the south of the Old City. The vegetable market was closed by the Israeli military and some of the neighboring houses were occupied by settlers and soldiers. Settlers started to take over the closed Palestinian stores, despite explicit orders of the Israeli Supreme Court that the settlers should vacate these stores and the Palestinians should be allowed to return.<ref name="AIC_2004_10-12" /> Beit Romano was built and owned by Yisrael Avraham Romano of [[Constantinople]] and served [[History of the Jews in Turkey|Sephardi Jews from Turkey]]. In 1901, a Yeshiva was established there with a dozen teachers and up to 60 students.<ref name="HebronJews" /> In 1982, Israeli authorities took over a Palestinian education office (Osama Ben Munqez School) and the adjacent bus station. The school was turned into a settlement, and the bus station into a military base against an order of the [[Israeli Supreme Court]].<ref name="AIC_2004_10-12" /> In 1807 the immigrant Sephardic Rabbi Haim Yeshua Hamitzri (Haim the [[Egyptian Jews|Jewish Egyptian]]) purchased 5 dunams on the outskirts of the city and in 1811 he signed a contract for a 99-year lease on a further 800 dunams of land, which included 4 plots in [[Tel Rumeida]]. The plots were administered by his descendant Haim Bajaio after Jews left Hebron. Settlers' claims to this land are based on these precedents, but are dismissed by the rabbi's heir.<ref>{{harvnb|Platt|2012|pp=79–80}}.</ref> In 1984, settlers established a caravan outpost there called Ramat Yeshai. In 1998, the government recognized it as a settlement, and in 2001 the [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Defence Minister]] approved the building of the first housing units.<ref name="AIC_2004_10-12" />

In 2012, Israel Defense Forces called for the immediate removal of a new settlement, because it was seen as a provocation.<ref>Levinson, Chaim. [http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-brass-calls-for-immediate-removal-of-new-hebron-settlement-1.422007 "IDF brass calls for immediate removal of new Hebron settlement."] ''Haaretz''. April 2, 2012.</ref> The IDF, in accordance with settler demands, requested the removal of a Palestinian flag on a Hebronite rooftop contiguous to settlements, though no rule forbids the practice. According to Palestinians, the IDF negotiated the removal of the flag in exchange for the release of a resident of Hebron from legal custody.<ref>Chaim Levinson (March 17, 2014). [http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.580203 "Following settlers' demand, IDF removes Palestinian flag from Hebron roof"]. ''[[Haaretz]]''.</ref> In August 2016, Israel announced its intention to allow settlement building in the military compound of ''Plugat Hamitkanim'' in Hebron, which had been expropriated for military purposes in the 1990s.<ref>[http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772789 "Watchdog: Expansion of Hebron settlements amounts to 'right of return for Jews only"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917031714/http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772789|date=September 17, 2016}} [[Ma'an News Agency]]. August 22, 2016.</ref> In late 2019, the Israeli Defense Minister [[Naftali Bennett]] instructed the [[Israeli Civil Administration|military administration]] to inform the Palestinian municipality of the government's intention to reconstruct infrastructure in the old Hebron fruit and vegetable market in order to establish a Jewish neighborhood there, which would allow for doubling the city's settler population. The area's original residents, who have protected tenancy rights there, were compelled to evacuate the zone after the [[Cave of the Patriarchs massacre]]. The original site was under Jewish ownership prior to 1948. The plan proposes that the empty shops remain Palestinian while the units built over them house Jewish Israelis.<ref>Hagar Shezaf (December 1, 2019). [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-plans-new-jewish-neighborhood-in-hebron-s-abandoned-arab-market-1.8201992 "Israel Plans New Jewish Neighborhood in Hebron's Arab Market"]. ''[[Haaretz]]''.</ref><ref>Elisha Ben Kimon, Yoav Zitun, Elior Levy (December 1, 2019). [https://www.ynetnews.com/article/HJOLZK11ar "Bennett plans building Jewish neighborhood in Hebron"]. [[Ynet]].</ref><ref>Yumna Patel (December 4, 2019). [https://mondoweiss.net/2019/12/israels-plan-to-build-new-settlement-atop-old-hebron-market-evokes-painful-memories-for-residents/ "Israel's plan to build new settlement atop Hebron market evokes painful memories for residents"]. ''[[Mondoweiss]]''.</ref>