April 20, 2012: Jewish Israeli civilians were targeted by three Arab roadside bombs set-up at night April 18th near Hevron. IDF sappers discovered the three-bomb set-up was sophisticated and reminiscent of the type of challenges faced by the IDF in Lebanon in the past. When IDF forces arrived on the scene they were instructed by their regiment commander to remain within their armoured vehicles. This order proved to be the right decision since in daylight the IDF discovered the third bomb with a tripwire in the bushes on a path leading to the nearby village of Yata. The bomb would have detonated against any IDF force that tried to go down the route. The Shin Bet succeeded in catching the terror cell that planted the bombs. The ambush signals a serious alert in the security situation in Judea.

A Jewish resident of Avigail in southern Mount Hevron, was driving home with a friend on the dark and largely deserted road, when he was distracted by a piece of black fabric waving in the wind and thought it was a dog running toward the road. He braked slightly and the next moment a huge ball of fire engulfed the front of his car. Had he not braked, he probably would have been at the center of the explosion when the bomb went off. The explosive device that had been planted at the side of the road was detonated with a cell phone. The Jewish man and his passenger managed to escape unharmed and continued driving. However, a second explosive charge, planted a few meters down the road which was planned to explode on them, was not detonated.

Photographs of the aftermath of the 1929 Arab pogrom of Jews on Hevron have been discovered in the Library of Congress archives. In an orgy of sadistic violence on August 24, 1929, 67 of Hevron’s Jews were murdered by neighbors they had lived with in peace for many years.

Scene of house destruction after the Arab massacre of Jews in Hebron

Hevron is the city where the Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried and where King David ruled for seven years before going to Jerusalem, so that it is one of the four holy cities in Israel for Jews.

Synagogue desecrated

There was no reason for the massacre other than the encouragement of the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin El-Husseini, who later joined Hitler. The Arabs murdered children in front of their parents, severed limbs, raped and burned people alive.

A student of the Hebron Yeshiva, Elhana Zelig Roch, lost a hand during the attack

A student of the Hebron Yeshiva, Zvi Hirsh Heller, dies from his wounds in hospital

The massacre preceded any Jewish military acts as it took place in 1929. The Jews of Hevron predated the new Jewish pioneers returning to their homeland of Israel.

Massacre of Jewish women, children at Hebron

The British High Commissioner in the Land of Israel, Sir John Chancellor, published a statement following the massacre, saying, “I have learned with horror of the atrocious acts committed by bodies of ruthless and bloodthirsty evil-doers, of savage murders perpetrated upon defenseless members of the Jewish population regardless of age or sex, accompanied as at Hebron, by acts of unspeakable savagery, of the burning of farms and houses in town and country and of the looting and destruction of property. These crimes have brought upon their authors the execration of all civilized peoples throughout the world.”

A Jewish survivor mourning in the aftermath of the massacre in Hebron.

The Hevron Sabbath” has ended, and the 25,000 visitors and guests are making their way home after spending Shabbat in the City of the Patriarchs.

The annual event attracts guests even from abroad. The event is held each year on the Sabbath of Parashat Chaye Sarah (Genesis 24 and 25), when the story of the Patriarch Abraham’s purchase of the Machpelah Field and Cave is recounted.

 The three Patriarchs, as well as three of the Matriarchs – Sarah, Leah, and Rebecca – are buried there; the Matriarch Rachel died near Bethlehem, and was buried along the way in what is now Rachel’s Tomb.
2010 Hevron Sabbath” was marked, for the first time in 12 years, by the official opening of the streets of the Kasba, the old city marketplace and former Jewish quarter to crowds of Jewish visitors. The guests saw 19th-century Jewish homes and institutions, now occupied by Arabs.

“We thank the myriads of visitors,” a statement by the Jewish Community of Hevron said, “as well as the security forces and the residents of Hevron and Kiryat Arba who opened their homes and their hearts. We await the day when 25,000 Jews will live in Hevron, and will not be just visitors.”