The occupation government is planning to transfer properties in the West Bank to Jews, including 70 properties in Hebron
Hebron's old markets... the artery of the local economy is breathing its last
Residents' reluctance to go to markets in the areas of contact with settlement outposts.
Emirates today
Director of the Hebron Reconstruction Committee Imad Hamdan.
Emirates today
The closure of the central vegetable market as a result of the closure of Al-Sahla Street.
Emirates today
Settlement demolitions next to the vegetable market last July.
Emirates today
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Within the old city of Hebron in the southern West Bank, which is inhabited by more than 40,000 Palestinians, the ancient historical markets are distributed between archaeological monuments and narrow alleys, as it is considered the kiss of Palestinians from the residents of Hebron, the cities of the West Bank and the Holy City, while contributing significantly to reviving the economy of the city of Hebron.
Today, those markets complain of permanent deplorable conditions, as a result of settler attacks inside five settlement outposts in the Old City, adjacent to and adjacent to Palestinian homes and real estate, as they impose arbitrary restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, including preventing the opening of hundreds of shops, whether by restrictive measures, or under the pretext of orders. military.
In its January 11 issue, Haaretz newspaper stated, “Based on the coalition agreement between the Likud and religious Zionist parties, the Israeli government is seeking to transfer ownership of some properties in the West Bank to Jewish heirs who owned them before the Nakba of 1948, including dozens of buildings in Khalil city".
Commenting on this, the Hebron municipality said in media statements: “The talk here is about 70 houses or real estate, but it is not clear to the municipality, because the occupation closes dozens of shops and hundreds of stores in the old town of Hebron, and prevents access to them.”
Market conditions
«Emirates Today» toured the markets of the old town, during its peak hours of work, which extends from seven o’clock in the morning until noon, as the traveler closely witnesses a clear state of economic stagnation, which may reach a severe paralysis at the beginning of each week, compared to the last, when the official holiday For employees and institutions on Friday and Saturday.
By getting closer to the shops, the state of disdain for the commercial movement in the old markets of Hebron becomes clear, and this is experienced by Abu Suhail al-Kurdi, one of the shop owners in the Bab al-Zawiya market, who faces severe suffering as a result of the difficulty of citizens’ access to the markets and their shops, due to the restrictions of Israeli measures.
Al-Kurdi says, "We are waiting for the advent of the blessed month of Ramadan, as the sales movement is active in those markets adjacent to the Ibrahimi Mosque, as a result of the turnout for it to spend the spiritual, faith-based atmosphere."
A few meters away from him, Abu Badr al-Tamimi sits next to his closed shop, which dates back to the Ottoman era, after it was full of various kinds of goods.
Al-Tamimi says: “I used to own a shop near Al-Sahla Street, but several years ago, as a result of the neighborhood of the Al-Dabouya settlement outpost, I and all the sellers were forced to leave our shops, due to the settlers’ attacks, until the market became empty except for the herds of settlers, who are still attacking us in Everywhere, every time.”
Bullying policy
“During the past years, we have made strenuous efforts to revive the deteriorating economic conditions within the local markets, including the restoration of shops, attracting national industrial companies, and developing the infrastructure for investment and shopping in the town’s markets, and near the Ibrahimi Mosque,” says Imad Hamdan, Director General of Hebron Construction.
The Palestinian efforts to encourage local markets in the Old City of Hebron did not satisfy the occupation, which continues its policy of oppression against shops, and the movement of roaming and shopping of citizens inside the markets of the Old City.
Hamdan goes on, in an exclusive interview with Emirates Today, that the Israeli forces impose from time to time a forced closure of shops located at the entrance to the old town, while diverting directions of entry and exit to and from the town to another area that witnesses a massive proliferation of military checkpoints and electronic and iron gates.
He points out that the occupation forces aim, through these arbitrary measures, to affect the movement of visitors and shoppers from the Old City, and to prevent them from reaching the markets.
Over the past years, the occupation has closed several markets in the Old City, namely: the chicken market, the milk market, the blacksmiths market, the carpenters market, the camel market, the old central vegetable market or what is known as “Al-Hisba”, the wholesale market, and the gold market.
Last July, the Israeli forces carried out extensive demolitions in the vicinity of the old central vegetable market, in order to expand the “Abraham Abino” outpost, to connect it with settlement outposts located on the lands of downtown Hebron, within the Israeli settlement plans.
Full and long closure
This current suffering extends similarly to it for nearly three decades in the heart of the Old City, and next to the Ibrahimi Mosque, since the complete closure of “Al-Shuhada” Street in 1994, to be joined in the year 2000 by “Al-Sahla” Street, which is completely closed to the movement of Palestinians.
The head of the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee says: “Al-Shuhada Street was originally an economic street of the first class, as many specialized commercial markets branched out from it, and it is considered the lifeblood of the commercial movement, and the link that linked the vegetable markets (wholesale and retail) in the Al-Sahla Street area, And between the rest of the old city and Hebron governorate.
And it shows that the occupation forces closed 512 shops on both sides of Al-Shuhada Street and the areas connected to it, causing a state of complete paralysis of the commercial movement and a comprehensive economic collapse, pointing out that this deprived 3000 families of their permanent source of livelihood, exacerbated their suffering, and turned them into poor families.
Hamdan goes on to say: “The forced closure of Al-Shuhada Street also resulted in the closure of more than 1,000 commercial shops, as a result of their location in the seam areas with settlement outposts and permanent Israeli military checkpoints.”
In addition to the settlement outposts, the Israeli forces deepen the isolation of the Old City, as a result of the deployment of 21 fixed military checkpoints, around which electronic gates are spread, dozens of heavily armed soldiers, and 105 physical movement obstacles (iron gates), in addition to the deployment of dozens of observation points, and hundreds of cameras targeting Palestinians. .
• The Israeli forces impose, from time to time, forced closure of shops located at the entrance to the Old City, while diverting entry and exit directions to and from the town to another area that witnesses a massive deployment of military checkpoints and electronic and iron gates.
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