Visiting Hebron in the West Bank – The Divided City of Palestine

Visiting Hebron in the West Bank in Palestine and understanding the divided city on a Dual Narrative tour with Jewish and Arab guides.

Visiting Hebron in the West Bank is as much about the importance of making your own informed decisions as it is about travelling to Palestine. 

An essential part of understanding the difficult and troubling perspective that exists as part of the Israel Palestine conflict, travel to Hebron is a chance to hear the story from both the Jewish and Arab perspective on a ‘Dual Narrative’ tour. First-hand information is key to making your own informed decisions – not just about Hebron, but the region as a whole.

“Hebron is a microcosm of the Holy Land issue overall. There are just different narratives of the same holy place – Jewish and Palestinian narrative of the Holy Land being the biggest riddle in the entire world.”

That’s what Eliyahu, our Jewish tour guide, said as we travelled to Hebron – the most heavily contested area of the West Bank in Palestine, also referred to as the Palestinian Territories.

It was an absolute given that I would be visiting the West Bank during my travels in Israel. Personally, it was a priority for me when travelling here, to understand what is going on outside of the particular bias reporting of our own country’s media and away from the strong perspectives of our peers, which can easily sway us.

Yet also, it’s important to realise that BOTH the Jews and the Arabs have their own stories to tell.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the divide, the extremist governments and leaders on both sides – it’s neither an easy discussion nor a tit-for-tat situation, as some people express. When tensions flair, discussion turn to the misuse of the word conflict – when the fight on either side isn’t fair and equal. Neither is the average traveller a conflict resolution expert. Not all Jewish people and Israelis are reflective of their extreme government, just how not all Palestinians are reflective of the extremist factions that claim to support their cause.  

I do not support the construction of Jewish settlements or the heavy military occupation under the current government. But I can support Israelis who want peace and an end to this. When there, it’s not hard to see how Palestinians are encroached upon in a land that was once free and shared by all as peaceful neighbours, but which is now occupied with force.

Ignoring that as a visitor is to ignore the reality of this country. Israel and Palestine history narratives are extremely complex. But that doesn’t mean that I, and you, can’t gain an educated, well-rounded and balanced perspective on it.

Because what I do know is that there’s actually an amazing group of Israeli and Palestinian people working together for the greater good. Especially in Hebron.

Why Visit Hebron in the West Bank?

To embark on Hebron travels might sound extreme. Still, a chance to see the West Bank in Palestine teaches you one important lesson that you should carry with you through your days of travelling in this region – that the actions of extremists on both sides are in no way reflective of the people in both countries who go about their day-to-day lives while all this is going on.

A Hebron tourist can, therefore, be said to help bring about the greater good in understanding rather than be put in the same bracket as negative voyeurism.

So next time you call out Israelis for being bullying, gun-touting land-grabbers and Palestinians for being fanatical suicide bombers, remember that there are normal people on the ground who have nothing to do with the wider agendas of their governments or religious factions but who see each other as neighbours and who are calling for the same thing – resolution and peace.

While you can take a West Bank tour safely and easily, visiting the key cities of Bethlehem, Jericho and Ramallah, this story is specifically about Hebron.

I joined a ‘Dual’ Narrative tour in Hebron, a joint partnership of the Israeli owned Abraham Tours and the Palestinian Visit Hebron-Palestine initiative, where half of the day would be spent with a Palestinian guide and the other half with a Jewish guide. Travelling from Jerusalem to Hebron and back again, is an emotionally compounding day that you won’t forget.

Entering Hebron – H1 West Bank

We met our two Palestinian guides, Mohammad and Leena, on what is called ‘Apartheid Street’ (Shuhada Street) – given that name by Palestinians since they are barred from using it and being seen as a space of protection by the Israeli’s. Once a thriving shopping lane, and now an eerie empty space, you feel the atmosphere here as you wander slowly past the closed shops towards the simple yet daunting checkpoint at the end, guarded by the heavily armed Israeli military. It made the seriousness of the situation all the more real.

Crossing through, we entered into another world – a chaotic old city, full of cars, bikes, food carts and throngs of people. We were told it was once a ghost town but then the Palestinian government put initiatives in place to encourage people to come back to this old part of the city. We meandered the bazaars and spoke to locals, many having closed their business, and others desperately holding onto those which their fathers and grandfathers had once set up.

I never once felt unsafe here and nor do the Palestinian people make you feel unwelcome. In fact, many treasure the opportunity to share their stories, knowing that you will share them too. But there’s no denying that you could feel the tension, and then we worked out why.

We looked up and saw that modern stone buildings standing high above the old crumbling market place, inhabited by Jewish settlers, the walls literally touching that of the old city.

The thoroughfare of the bazaar was covered in a roof of wire mesh, that had collected stones and plastic bottles like a giant sieve, items that the settlers are said to have thrown below, including urine and bleach (the other side of the narrative is that the Palestinians were also throwing items at the settlers).

We looked around abandoned alleyways and noticed the end of old passages boarded up with sheets of steel, stone, plastic and whatever else could be used to block the entrance… to land now occupied by Jewish settlers.

We walked through houses and stairwells to reach the rooftops of local Palestinian properties to find Israeli checkpoints all around us, where armed soldiers took guard on rooftops and hillsides. We were told that Palestinian people are not allowed to lock their doors and that Israeli soldiers could come in at any time. That houses are taken by force since many Palestinians refuse to sell their properties for the millions of dollars offered by the settlers.

Essentially, they are watched and controlled here at all times, not only with checkpoints but with 100 or more cameras – supervision in H1, which shouldn’t have any Israeli control at all.

Some of the group cried, and some sat in silence, full of anger after we had entered the mosque side of the Tomb of the Patriarchs (a place divided in two after a massacre in 1994 which saw a Jewish man open fire on Muslims on Ramadan) and watched Israeli military act disrespectfully. Walking around with their shoes on and the women not covering their heads, many made smirking gestures, and one even curtly told our Palestinian guide to leave the room we were in.

These were not like the Israeli soldiers we had seen elsewhere, and watching Leena break her heart over the whole situation proved that a whole different level of control and attitude exists here, unlike anywhere else. I can only imagine how being posted in Hebron could send you crazy or make you devoid of all rational thought and feeling. However, this is no excuse for the overarching agenda of the system deploying them here.

Our time in H1 ended with having lunch with a Palestinian family, although by this point, we were not in the highest of spirits. All we could do was watch the happiness of the children playing, hoping that one day things wouldn’t be so bad for them – they are the next generation who can make a change.

We bid a sad farewell to our guides, feeling as if we had known them longer than just a few hours we spent with them and grateful that the insight here wasn’t full of extreme hatred and bias.

We had seen enough to make our own opinions.

Visiting Hebron from the Jewish Perspective

Entering Hebron – H2 West Bank

It’s fair to say that Eliyahu inherited our group in a bad mood, and for that, we later apologised. At the time we were so emotional that we were almost not listening, or wanting to care what he had to say. But the beauty of camaraderie, which is exactly what this tour forges, is that we all willed each other to give the Jewish side of the story here a fair chance.

We entered the Tomb of the Patriarchs again but this time to visit the Synagogue side, which was just as beautiful but sadder when you saw how both sides ‘peer through’ to each other, blocked by a bulletproof screen at the tomb of Abraham – the one person central to both religions. We were told how the entire building is open for 10 days a year under Islamic control and 10 days a year under Jewish control – the only means of sharing this holy site.

Visiting a residential area, we learnt about the reasoning of settlement here, which is basically about the ‘reclamation’ of land (with archaeological sites used as markers also) based on the heritage of forefathers that dates back to Biblical times, as is the reason used now for settlement in other parts of the West Bank).

A synagogue has even been rebuilt here on the site of the original (again as history claims). You get to visit that also.

To add to that, there’s also what we were told was “the Zionist response to a terror attack” which is to rebuild where an act of terror took place, and we saw many buildings that had been erected bearing plaques with the names of those who had died at the hand of suicide bombings. 

Visiting the Jewish Museum, we learnt about the 1929 Hebron massacre, with pictures depicting the slaughter of 67 Jews and the ransacking of homes and Synagogues by the people they once lived peacefully alongside – their Arab neighbours.

This terrible event is seen as an open wound and another reason given for current Jewish presence here – it is seen as a form of resettlement after they fled the area because of it. However, as pointed out by Eliyahu, the museum is somewhat biased, with no mention of the 400 or more Jews who survived thanks to their Arab neighbours who hid them and tried to protect them.

It’s fair to say that there’s been a continuous Jewish presence in Hebron throughout history (as with the Holy Land as a whole), but with Jewish people moving out after the massacre and returning decades later.

However, whether or not the Jewish people living here now have a direct ancestry line to those who lived here decades and centuries before, the issue is not with Jewish people as a whole (again, we have to be careful not to categorise ALL Jewish people in Israel), but with the strong nationalistic sentiments of this particular strand of Jewish thought – the ones who firmly believe they have a right to be here, despite rational thought and the idea of coexistence.

We ended our time up on a hill, on another Jewish settlement where a Jewish man had been murdered, resulting in the Israeli government giving permission for the settlers to build there. There are so many fractions of settlements in Hebron, each with their own distinct reasons to build in a particular spot, that this issue in itself is complicated.

By that point, we had seen and heard enough. We understood both sides, but it didn’t mean we had the answers to everything. It just helped to give perspective on what is possibly the most complicated issue many of us had ever heard about.

But for a few minutes, we stood on that hill and looked out across the spectacular Hebron landscape – beautiful, peaceful and full of history. For a few minutes, It was almost as if nothing was happening there at all.

Why You Should Take a Tour in Hebron

Maybe one day we will all get to sit around the table together in both Hebron and Jerusalem, without the need for divisions, checkpoints and explanations. Maybe one day we can unravel the history of Israel and the history of Palestine and find some common ground.

That’s why these Israeli and Palestinian people are working together, after all – to prove that peaceful communication is possible.

Whatever your opinion, from what you’ve read, watched, or listened to, there’s nothing more important than travelling to Hebron to formulate your own.

By actually being here, you become another part of the narrative, and you may well be surprised at how your own fervent, one-sided opinion becomes more balanced and informed.

Of course, there are many strands of narrative, including those of the army, civilians, left-wingers and right-wingers and everything else in between, but I will leave you with these wise words we were told.

“There’s room for all manner and strands of beliefs. Nationalism is poison. The only thing we should condemn is violence but continue to love the Holy Land.” 

Book a Tour to Hebron and the West Bank / Palestinian Territories

• For all details and to book the Dual Narrative Tour in Hebron with one of my trip partners, Abraham Tours, can be found here.
  • The full day tour costs 290 ILS = 69/ $78 / £61 and runs from 8am until 7pm
  • You will need your passport in order to cross through the checkpoints
• For an even more in-depth insight into the region consider a Palestinian Territories / West Bank tour that also covers Jericho, Bethlehem and Ramallah, as part of a day trip from Jerusalem.