HEBRON, PALESTINE

31°31’59.27”N 35°05’59.27”E ELEV 944m

Hebron has been divided in two zones H1 and H2. Since it’s closure after the 2000 intifada, it is in the H2 area and the Old City that the local economy has suffered the most. Hebron’s old market area used to be the main commercial hub of the southern West Bank. According to a survey done by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in 2007, 1 829 Palestinian shops located in H2 have closed since the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000. This is mainly due to military orders, curfews and the closure regime imposed by the Israeli authorities hampering economic activity.

Hebron has a Palestinian majority, consisting of some 170,000 citizens and a small Jewish minority, variously numbered between 500-800, living mainly near the outskirts of the city.

The H1 sector of Hebron, home to around 120,000 Palestinians, is governed by the Palestinian Authority. H2, which was inhabited by around 30,000 Palestinians,^[4] is under Israeli military control in order to protect some 500-800 Jewish residents living in the old Jewish quarter.