Month: March 2015

VISIT

Half day

1-5 persons 200 Nis or 40€ 1 guide
6-12 persons 250 Nis or 50€ 1guide
More than 12 persons : contact us

Full day

1-5 persons 400 Nis or 80€ 1 guide
6-12 persons 500 Nis or 100€ 1 guide
More than 12 persons : contact us

Examples of price / person

Sandwich: 3 NIS -10 NIS

ACCOMODATION

 We also organize for travellers who want to stay, They can discover the hospitality of Palestinian families.

150 NIS or 30 € / per person including dinner, accommodation for the night and breakfast.

Since 2007, Hebron France Association for Cultural Exchanges has developed a program of alternative tourism. This is to show the value of  Hebron heritage. it consists in showing the value of Hebron heritage which is usually forgotten by traditional tourist circuits.

So we invite you to discover the city of Hebron and its district.

Tours will be by French and English speaking local guides trained by the association.

Tours in the Old City take different aspects of the richness of the city (architectural and cultural heritage) and political reality.

A french club « le club francophone d’Hébron » which organizes each week activities in french : writing song or poetry workshops, games, tourism in french, virtual correspondence with french people, cook lessons, movie screening, writing workshop on the webmagazine Whebron.

Webzine WHEBRON

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Hebron is located at 35 km to the south of Jerusalem and at 1012 m of altitude. It is the main urban center on the West Bank of Jordan.

The City is at the crossroads of the Jerusalem historical sense figure leading to Egypt and the Arabic peninsula; and from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean shore.

Considered like one of the oldest cities in the world, Hebron has been famous for centuries thanks to its grapes, its glass and painted ceramic crafts, its rock and marble carriers, its work with leather, and even more so for its main monument – the Haram Al-Ibrahimi/The Patriarchs Tombs – Holy site of the three monotheist religions.

Nowadays, the City counts almost 200 000 inhabitants and the district about 700 000. Three Universities are represented, gathering about 25 000 students: the Hebron University, the Polytechnic University and the opened Al-Quds University. Since January 1997, 80% of the city is under the Palestinian Authority (zone H1), and the remaining 20% are under the Israeli control (H2, including the Old City and its surroundings, and the Patriarchs Tomb).

History:

The History of Hebron is marked by periods of climax and prosperity, but also by periods of troubles and invasions that led to numerous destructions. Each time period left an erasable mark on the City as it appears to us nowadays.

About 3500 B.C. (Old Bronze Age): first human implantation notified on the Tell Rumeida Hill, in the West of the Old City.

In the Middle Bronze (about 2200 B.C.): presence of a fortified “Canaanite” State-City.

About 2000 B.C.: according to the biblical tradition, Abraham ordered to have his wife Sara buried in the cave, known under the name of Machpela, and himself, then Isaac, Jacob, Rebecca and Lea are also said to be buried in the same place.

1000 B.C.: according to the biblical tradition, David was crowned king there and reigned for 7 years.

167 B.C.: Judas Maccabaeus and then his nephew John Hyrcanus took over the city.

28 B.C. (Roman period): Herod ordered to build the present wall of Haram Al-Ibrahimi/¨Patriarchs Tombs. Another sacred wall was built around the location considered as the biblical site of Mambre (Abraham’s Oak tree), in the North of the City.

66-73 and 132-135 B.C.: the City was destroyed by the Romans, consequence to the two Jewish revolts.

Byzantine period: probable construction of a church on the location of the Holy Sanctuary.

Edification of a Byzantine church in Mamre. Most of the Christian monuments were destroyed in 614, during the war between the Persians and Byzantines.

7th century A.D.: Islam arrival. Transformation of the Holy site into a Mosque. The inhabitants fled Tell Rumeida and settled down near Haram Al-Ibrahimi that soon became the implantation spot for the city.

1099: occupation of the City by the Crusaders. The mosque was then turned into a church. The latter was named Saint Abraham.

Beginning of the 12th century: construction of the adjacent citadel (Qa’alah).

1119: an important event is said to have taken place: the access to inside the sacred grotto and the discovery of corpses that according to some people should belong to the Patriarchs.

1168: Hebron became a bishop territory to which was subordinated the convent of the Crusaders from Ein Gedi.

1187: control of the city by Salah Al-Din, the church was once again turned into a mosque. The wooden minbar located in Ascalon, built in 1091, was transported to Hebron.

1227: Hebron and a significant part of the southern Palestine returned to the Ayyubids of Egypt.

1250-1517 MAMLUK PERIOD: Hebron became flourishing and an important Soufi center. The city underwent its “Golden Age”. Hebron will be enriched by mosque, schools, meditation locations, hostels, caravanserais, etc., showing off the scientific and economic new schemes.

1266: under the sultan Baybars’ reign: ordinance forbidding the Christians and Jews to enter the sanctuary, besides the fact that until that day it was possible to get in, in exchange of a certain amount of money.

1268: the sultan Baybars was at the origin of important repairs and gave important contributions to the Haram.

1332: the mosque’s walls were covered with marble, on the Mamluk sultan El- Malek en Nâser Mohammed’s order.

1517-1917 – OTTOMAN PERIOD

15th century: the Ottoman Empire encouraged the Jews from Spain to settle in Hebron. The latter introduced the craft works of glass and leather.

1517: the Ottomans took control of Hebron. The new constructions were essentially residential buildings, knowing that the public and religious buildings from a prior time period were kept in good condition. The city of Hebron developed in the suburbs of the human mamluk implantation, in the old districts, supplementary storeys were added to the already existing buildings.

End of the 18th century: Hebron constituted one of the most important commercial centers in Palestine: the Egyptian caravans preferred the land road by the Sinai and Beer es-Saba, rather than the coastal route.

19th century: development of the soap, skin and cotton factories.

1831-1840: occupation by Ibrahim Pacha, son of Mohammed Ai, governor of Egypt.

1834: revolt in Hebron invaded by the Egyptians. The citadel was destroyed at the time.

1837 and 1927: earthquake.

1840: murder of the Egyptian governor by Abd Al-Rahman Ibn Amro who proclaimed himself the new governor.

1846: several parts of the city were destroyed and robbed by the Ottomans who were after A. Amro, but the latter refused to surrender.

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CONTEMPORARY HISTORY

1917: British conquest.

1922: Hebron became the prefecture of a smaller district. The population was of about 12000 inhabitants including a Jewish community of about 1000 people.

1929: Demonstrations in Jerusalem in reaction to the attempts of Zionist manifestations, in order to change the status quo related to the access to the Lamentations Wall (Al Buraq). 67 Jews were killed in Hebron, according to Israeli sources; hundreds of others were protected by the Palestinian population.

1948-1949: Hebron was under Egyptian control.

1950-1967: Hebron and the rest of the West Bank were under Jordanian control. Destruction of many buildings dating back to the Mamluk period, so as to enlarge the place in the East of the sanctuary.

1967: occupation of the West Bank by Israel.

1969: first Israeli settlements near Hebron. Numerous old buildings were also destroyed by the Israelis near the sanctuary to develop the esplanade and create an access to enter the Kyriat Arba settlement, as well as the Holy sanctuary.

Starting from 1976: establishment of Israeli settlers in Hebron downtown.

1994: a settler from Kyriat Arba, Baruch Goldstein, entered in the Abraham mosque during a prayer time (Ramadan and Pourim period), and shot at the crowd: 29 Palestinians got killed and about 200 were wounded.

1997: Hebron Protocol (agreements on the redeployment of the Israeli army in Hebron). The City got divided in two parts, H1 under Palestinian authority and H2 under Israeli military control.

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Since 2000: the access to a part of the Old City (including the Martyrs’ street, formerly the main street) is forbidden to the Palestinians. In 2009, 1000 houses were abandoned and 1900 shops were shut down for economic reasons or because of a decision made by the Israeli army.

The Association organizes cultural events with local partners and also benefits from artists tours, exhibitions and shows

the Association also benefits from the activities organized by the French Institute network in the Palestinian territories.

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  • Visual arts: exhibitions of French and Palestinian artists

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  • Living Arts

Fête de la musique 2014 Jazzadem DSCN7053

  • Some exhibitions dealing with the scientific vulgarization

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  • Meetings with foreign artists and speakers

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  • Cinema

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  • Finally, the Association participated, with the local structures and local artists, to the organization of diverse regular events such as The Ramadan Nights or The Poets Spring.

Created in 2002, the social assistance service has offices in the two centers of the association. This department works in coordination with the network of local organizations dealing with social matters.

The social assistants provide a socio psychological assistance (a following of the major cases on the long term, visit of the families) and guide certain cases towards the institutions and specialized associative or public structures.

Prevention:

  •  Awareness workshops (drugs, marital violence, early wedding, consanguine marriage, etc…) and support groups mainly for mothers.
  • Publication and diffusion of brochures (handicap, enuresis, domestic accidents, etc…)

 

Financial help:

  • Coupons giving the right to first need products (clothes, food)
  • Taking in charge the expenses for medical consultations and prescriptions.
  • Moreover, in the field for the prevention against violence, regular activities are organized for the children who belong to the families who are the most in need.

Hebron-France Association for Cultural Exchanges is a Palestinian non-governmental organization.

In Hebron, we make the francophone world live and we propose to make you discover our city.  This way was born our first project that was launched in 1997.

Since then, the number of activities taking place at our association increased:

  • Cultural events
  • Tours in Hebron and its surroundings with local guides (French and English) since 2007
  • Social assistance
  • Activities with children
  • Teaching French

The HFACE have two offices ; near the Hebron University and in area H2 (entrance of the old city).

Our objectives are to promote inter-cultural exchanges and dialogue ; to promote the heritage ; to provide social assistance to needy families in area H2 ; to develop French language ; to develop recreational activities for children in H2 aera

Since its creation the HFACE has implemented projects with the support of foreign and Palestinian institutions : CCFD (Catholic committee against hunger and for development), AFPS (Association France Palestine Solidarity), Palestinian ministries of Youth and Sports, of culture, of Education and of Health.

We also have experience of international cooperation :

  • Organization of events in the framework of the Anna Lindh Foundation
  • Organization of events with the French Consulate
  • With a French secondary public school
  • With several French associations and municipalities

Our main partners and donors of HFACE are :

  • French Consulate in Jerusalem
  • Comité Catholique contre la Faim et pour le Développement CCFD
  • Association France-Palestine Solidarité AFPS
  • Arcueil and Belfort municipalities
  • Régions PACA, Centre
  • Temporary International Presence in Hebron TIPH
  • European Union
  • Secours Populaire Français
  • Amicale des Anciens Appelés d’Algérie contre la Guerre

The team of the HFACE

17 employees :

  • Board of directors : 7 members
  • Executive director
  • Project coordinator + 2 assistants
  • Secretariat
  • Accountancy
  • Social workers
  • Animators
  • European Volunteer (EVS)

And several international and palestinian volunteers provide their help to our association.