HEBRON: A Ghost Town.....

Hebron, does it ring any bells!! I guess not because mainstream media does not usually mention the story of Hebron. It's a policy of stay mum and let the world burn, I have been following the situation in Hebron for the past year and what I see and read makes me to write this story.

Hebron is a city in the centre of occupied West Bank. It is famous as the final resting place of Prophet Abraham(PBUH), at the Ibrahimi Mosque or Sanctuary of Abraham or the The Cave of the Patriarchs as it is known in Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Israel Occupied the West Bank town in the six day war of 1967 and a constant and relentless settlement campaign continued. It is the only city in the Occupied West Bank where Jewish Settlers and Palestinian Residents live in close proximity to each other creating a very tense and violent environment.

There are an estimated 170,000 Palestinian Residents and 700-800 Illegal Jewish Settlers living in Hebron. The IDF or the Israeli Defence Forces maintains a huge military presence in Hebron to provide security to the settlers and has in fact created an Environment where it is Impossible for Palestinians to carry out their lively hood and go ahead with their every day lives.

The IDF closed most of the Old City market to provide a buffer zone for the Jewish settlers residing beside the market. The Old City Market provided lively hood to hundreds of Palestinian families for decades and was present there for hundreds of years but now it feels like a ghost town. Red paint spots are the only sign of the IDF wanting the evacuation and closure of the shops that once would have been in full business.




If that was not enough the Palestinian Families living close to the settlements have all been forced to leave their ancestral homes with brutal force, these houses once vacated are usually ransacked and systematically make inhospitable by the Jewish Settlers in plain sight of the IDF which claims it does not have jurisdiction to arrest Israeli Citizens. Palestinian School girls are usually harassed on their way to school and the settlers maintain an armed presence with flaunting assault rifles while they walk the city. Jewish Settlers usually abuse the Palestinian residents both verbally and physically trying to make them leave the city permanently.

Perhaps Hebron will be remembered for the day of On February 25, 1994 when Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli physician and resident of Kiryat Arba, opened fire on Muslims at prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque , killing 29, before the survivors overcame and killed him.

The Temporary International Presence in Hebron was established to make life worth living for the Palestinian Residents but even they come under constant settler attacks whose leader claims that the violent attacks will stop if the Palestinians stop their demands for a Palestinian State. This is a regretful situation where people have to live so miserable lives for the sake of a few hundred people trying to assert their presence.