Editing Hebron (section)

== Culture ==

=== Tourism ===
{{main|Old City of Hebron}}
[[File:Hebron Old city-souq.jpg|thumb|[[Bazaar|''Souk'']] in Old City of Hebron]]
Hebron is home to numerous mosques, synagogs, churches, parks, palaces, castles and forts.<ref name=":10" /> The [[Old City of Hebron]] was a declared a Palestinian [[World Heritage Site]] by [[UNESCO]] on July 7, 2017.<ref name="OldTownofHebron">{{cite news |last=Adamczyk |first=Ed |title=UNESCO declares Hebron, West Bank, a world heritage site |language=en |publisher=UPI |date=July 7, 2017 |url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/07/07/UNESCO-declares-Hebron-West-Bank-a-world-heritage-site/3011499431429/ |access-date=July 7, 2017}}</ref> The move caused controversies and faced opposition from Israeli officials who objected to it being called as Palestinian site, instead of Israeli.<ref name="ABC UNESCO">{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/unesco-puts-city-hebron-heritage-danger-list-48495103 |title=Israelis outraged by UNESCO decision on Hebron holy site | publisher=ABC News |agency=Associated Press |date=July 7, 2017 |access-date=July 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707222506/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/unesco-puts-city-hebron-heritage-danger-list-48495103 |archive-date=July 7, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web |date=October 24, 2011 |title=# THE FUNAMBULIST PAPERS 13 /// A Visit to The Old City of Hebron by Raja Shehadeh |url=https://thefunambulist.net/editorials/guest-writers-essays-13-a-visit-to-the-old-city-of-hebron-by-raja-shehadeh |access-date=July 31, 2024 |website=THE FUNAMBULIST MAGAZINE |language=en-GB}}</ref> It is one of the best preserved sites of the [[Mamluk]] era.<ref name=":10" />

* The most famous site in Hebron is the [[Cave of the Patriarchs]].<ref name=":10" /> The [[Herodian architecture|Herodian era structure]] is said to enclose the tombs of the biblical [[Patriarchs]] and [[Matriarchs (Bible)|Matriarchs]].<ref name=":10" /> The site is known for the burial place of [[Abraham]], [[Isaac]] and [[Jacob]], along with their wives [[Sarah]], [[Rebecca]] and [[Leah]] respectively.<ref name=":10" /> The Isaac Hall now serves as the Ibrahimi mosque, while the Abraham and Jacob Hall serve as a synagog.<ref name=":10" /> 
* The tombs of other biblical figures – [[Abner|Abner ben Ner]], [[Othniel|Otniel ben Kenaz]], [[Book of Ruth|Ruth]] and [[Jesse (biblical figure)|Jesse]] are also located in the city.<ref name=":10" /> It is reverred to Christians, Muslims and Jews.<ref name=":10" /> These sites are located in the H2 region, which is controlled by the Israeli authorities.
* The early Ottoman-era [[Abraham Avinu Synagogue]] in the city's historic Jewish Quarter was built in 1540 and restored in 1738.<ref name=":10" />
* Mosques from the era include the [[Sheikh Ali al-Bakka Mosque|Sheikh Ali al-Bakka]] and [[Al-Jawali Mosque|Al-Jawali]] mosque.

Hebron is also home to several sites for Christian worship, with numerous churches located around the city.<ref name=":10" /> The [[Oak of Sibta]] (Oak of Abraham) is an ancient tree which, in non-Jewish tradition,<ref>{{harvnb|Finn|1868|p=184}}:'the great oak of Sibta, commonly called Abraham's oak by most people except the Jews, who do not believe in any Abraham's oak there. The great patriarch planted, indeed, a grove at Beersheba; but the "Eloné Mamre" they declare to have been "plains", not "oaks", (which would be Alloné Mamre,) and to have been situated northwards instead of westwards from the present Hebron.'</ref> is said to mark the place where Abraham pitched his tent.<ref name=":10" /> The [[Russian Orthodox Church]] owns the site and the nearby [[Abraham's Oak Holy Trinity Monastery]], consecrated in 1925.<ref name=":10" /> Hebron is one of the few cities to have preserved its [[Mamluk architecture]].<ref name=":10" /> Many structures were built during the period, especially Sufi [[Zawiya (institution)|zawiya]]s.<ref>{{cite book|author=Museum With No Frontiers|title=Pilgrimage, sciences and Sufism: Islamic art in the West Bank and Gaza|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bqMVAQAAIAAJ|year=2004|publisher=Édisud|isbn=978-9953-36-064-5|page=200}}</ref><ref name=":10" />

Other sites:

* Situated on the northeast of the city, Wadi al–Quff Natural Reserve is visited by 2,000 people, mostly on weekends.<ref name=":17" /> It is currently under the management of the Palestinian government.<ref name=":17" /> 
* Aristobolia (''[[Khirbet]] [[Istanbul]]''), in south of Hebron, near [[Zif, Hebron|Zif]] village, is home to Byzantine-era [[basilica]], built during the beginning of [[Islamic History|Islamic era]].<ref name=":16">{{Cite web |title=The Undiscovered Archaeological Riches of Hebron |url=https://thisweekinpalestine.com/the-undiscovered-archaeological-riches-of-hebron/ |access-date=August 3, 2024 |website=This Week in Palestine |language=en-US}}</ref> 
* ''Khirbet al–Karmil'' is home to Crusader pool, ruined Byzantine church and Crusader fortress.<ref name=":16" /> 
* [[As-Samu]] is an ancient biblical village, currently a modern town.<ref name=":16" /> It is home to 4th century synagog, numerous Ottoman-era structure and an Islamic building, probably built during the time of [[Saladin]] of the [[Ayyubid dynasty]].<ref name=":16" />

=== Religious traditions ===
[[File:Abraham's Oak Holy Trinity Monastery.jpg|left|thumb|[[:File:Russian Orthodox Monastery in Hebron.jpg|Russian Orthodox Monastery in Hebron]]]]
Some Jewish traditions regarding [[Adam]] place him in Hebron after his expulsion from [[Garden of Eden|Eden]]. Another has [[Cain]] kill [[Abel]] there. A third has [[Adam and Eve]] buried in the cave of Machpelah. A Jewish-Christian tradition had it that Adam was formed from the red clay of the field of [[Damascus]], near Hebron.<ref name="Vilnay 1973 170–172">{{harvnb|Vilnay|1973|pp=170–72}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bSpJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA223 Miscellanies of divinitie: divided into three books] Edward Kellet, 1633. p. 223: "Sixthly, the field of Damascus, where the red earth lieth, of which they report Adam was formed; which earth is tough, and may be wrought like wax, and lieth close by Hebron."</ref> A tradition arose in medieval Jewish texts that the Cave of the Patriarchs itself was the very entrance to the [[Garden of Eden]].<ref>{{harvnb|Neuman|2018|p=1}}</ref> During the Middle Ages, pilgrims and the inhabitants of Hebron would eat the red earth as a charm against misfortune.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marcus Milwright|title=The Fortress of the Raven: Karak in the Middle Islamic Period (1100 -1650)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7w7TW4NVBcC&pg=PA119|year=2008|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-16519-9|page=119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=J. G. R. Forlong|title=Encyclopedia of Religions Or Faiths of Man 1906, Part 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7jz-6wHrg2QC&pg=PA220|year=2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-4308-1|page=220}} {{dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Others report that the soil was harvested for export as a precious medicinal spice in [[Egypt]], [[Arabia]], [[Ethiopia]] and [[India]] and that the earth refilled after every digging.<ref name="Vilnay 1973 170–172"/> Legend also tells that [[Noah]] planted his vineyard on Mount Hebron.<ref>{{cite book|author=Zev Vilnay|title=The Sacred land|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEUwAAAAYAAJ|volume=2|year=1975|publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America|isbn=978-0-8276-0064-5|page=47}}</ref> In [[History of Christianity#Early Middle Ages (476–842)|medieval Christian]] tradition, Hebron was one of the three cities where [[Elizabeth (Biblical person)|Elizabeth]] was said to live, the legend implying that it might have been the birthplace of [[John the Baptist]].<ref>{{harvnb|Craveri|1967|p=25}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Milman|1840|p=49}}.</ref>

One Islamic tradition has it that [[Muhammad]] alighted in Hebron during his [[Isra and Mi'raj|night journey]] from Mecca to Jerusalem, and the mosque in the city is said to conserve one of his shoes.<ref>{{harvnb|Gil|1997|p=100}}.</ref> Another tradition states that Muhammad arranged for Hebron and its surrounding villages to become part of [[Tamim al-Dari]]'s domain; this was implemented during [[Umar]]'s reign as caliph. According to the arrangement, al-Dari and his descendants were only permitted to tax the residents for their land and the ''[[waqf]]'' of the Ibrahimi Mosque was entrusted to them.<ref>{{harvnb|Levi della Vida|1993|p=648}}</ref> The ''simat al-Khalil'' or "Table of Abraham" is attested to in the writings of the 11th century [[Persian people|Persian]] traveler [[Nasir-i Khusraw]].<ref name=":10" /> According to the account, this early Islamic food distribution center — which predates the Ottoman ''[[imaret]]s'' — gave all visitors to Hebron a loaf of bread, a bowl of [[lentil]]s in [[olive oil]], and some [[raisins]].<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-1-136-49894-7| last = Woodhead| first = Christine| title = The Ottoman World| page=73 |date = December 15, 2011}}</ref>

According to Tamara Neuman, settlement by a community of Jewish religious fundamentalists has brought about three major changes by redesigning a Palestinian area in terms of biblical imagery and origins: remaking over these revamped religious sites to endow them with an innovative centrality to Jewish worship, that, she argues, effectively erases the [[diaspora|diasporic thrust]] of Jewish tradition; and writing out the overlapping aspects of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in such a way that the possibility of accommodation between the three intertwined traditions is eradicated, while the presence of Palestinians themselves is erased by violent methods.<ref>{{harvnb|Neuman|2018|p=5|ps=: "This narrowed or fundamentalist focus involves three further changes that are also useful for framing this study: the first is that religiously inscribed space, particularly the remaking of many Palestinian areas into a geography of biblical sites and origins, has been given a new significance in the construction of a distinct Jewish (settler) identity. Spatial reorganization has also resulted in a range of incremental practices included under the rubric of religion that link up with this process of inscription— including renaming, reenvisioning, and rebuilding. These practices in turn support and magnify resolute place-based attachments. The second shift is that these remade biblical sites, specifically in Hebron and within the Tomb of the Patriarchs itself, are being given a new centrality in Jewish observance, one that largely cancels out the exilic orientation of Jewish tradition. They give rise to a form of Jewish observance focusing on exact origins and specific graves to the exclusion of a more characteristic yearning for the messianic future. Third, the final change entails writing out the many historical convergences between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam reflected in the traditions themselves so as to eliminate possibilities for accommodating difference, while using Jewish observance and forms of direct violence in order to erase the presence of an existing Palestinian population."}}</ref>