Jump to content

Kiryat Arba: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Revert to revision 461041341 dated 2011-11-17 01:10:07 by 128.232.131.46 using popups
Line 50: Line 50:


==Arab-Israeli conflict==
==Arab-Israeli conflict==
Between 1981-1986, four residents of Kiryat Arba were shot and wounded in the Hebron marketplace. In 1994, a 17-year old girl from Kiryat Arba was shot to death in a drive-by shooting. <ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/hebron.html Terrorist attacks and violent incidents in Kiryat Arba]</ref> On August 31, 2010, four Jewish residents, including a pregnant woman, were shot to death in their car outside Kiryat Arba.<ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2010/11/palestinian-police-security The Lawless West Bank: The Next Powder Keg?]</ref>
Between 1981-1986, four residents of Kiryat Arba were shot and wounded in the Hebron marketplace by arab terrorists. In 1994, a 17-year old girl from Kiryat Arba was shot to death in a drive-by shooting by an arab terrorist. <ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/hebron.html Terrorist attacks and violent incidents in Kiryat Arba]</ref> On August 31, 2010, four Jewish residents, including a pregnant woman, were shot to death in their car outside Kiryat Arba by arab terrorists.<ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2010/11/palestinian-police-security The Lawless West Bank: The Next Powder Keg?]</ref>


==Notable residents==
==Notable residents==

Revision as of 22:21, 6 December 2011

Template:Infobox Israel municipality Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba (Template:Hebrew), lit. "Town of the Four," is an Israeli settlement in the Judean Mountains region of the West Bank on the edge of Hebron. Its settlers consist of a mix of Russian immigrants, American immigrants, and native-born Israelis numbering close to 10,000. (Official census records in 2008 recorded a population of 7,200.)[1]

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.[2]

Etymology

Kiryat Arba is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Joshua chapter 14 verse 15 says (Darby_Bible): "Now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-Arba; the great man among the Anakim..."[3] There are various explanations for the name, not mutually exclusive. According to the great Biblical commentator Rashi, Kiryat Arba ("Town of Arba") means either the town (kirya) of Arba, the giant who had three sons, or the town of the four giants: Anak (the son of Arba) and his three sons - Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmi - who are described as being the sons of a "giant" in Numbers 13:22: "On the way through the Negev, they (Joshua and Caleb) came to Hebron where [they saw] Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmi, descendants of the Giant (ha-anak)..."[4] Some say that Anak ("Giant", see Anak) is a proper name (Targum Jonathan and the Septuagint),[5] and that he, Anak, may have been the father of the three others mentioned in the Book of Numbers as living in Hebron, previously known as "Kiryat Arba."

Alternatively, the name may refer to the four couples buried in the Machpela Cave: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebbecca, Jacob and Leah, and according to the Zohar, Adam and Eve.[6]

Status under international law

Like all Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories, Kiryat Arba is considered illegal under international law, though Israeli disputes this.[7] The international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory.[8] Israel disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Palestinian territories as they had not been legally held by a sovereign prior to Israel taking control of them. This view has been rejected by the International Court of Justice and the International Committee of the Red Cross.[9]

History

Antiquity

Hebron is one of the earliest towns mentioned in history, and is the first Jewish settlement. According to the Bible (Numbers 13:23) it was founded seven years before Zoan or Tanis, the most ancient town in Lower Egypt, which means that it existed from the first half of the third millennium B.C. Josephus (Bel. Jud., IV, ix, 7) says that in his time the town was already 2300 years old. It was originally called Kiriat Arba, or Kiriat- ha-Arba (D. V. Cariath-Arbe, Genesis 23:2, 35:27; Joshua 14:15, 15:13, 15:54, 20:7, 21:11; Judges 1:10; Nehemiah 11:25) from the name of Arba, “the greatest among the Enacims” (Joshua 14:15). [10]

Since 1968

In 1968, a group of Jews led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger and Rabbi Eliezer Waldman founded Kiryat Arba on the eastern outskirts of Hebron. Jewish settlement around Hebron was claimed to be justified in light of the 1929 Hebron massacre and the continued presence of Jews in the area until then. Building began on an abandoned military base in 1970, and residents moved in 1971. The town is a self-sufficient community, with pre-nursery through post-secondary educational institutions, medical facilities, shopping centers, a bank and a post office. Kiryat Arba attained local council status in 1979. While Kiryat Arba is located within the territory of the Har Hebron Regional Council, it is an independent local council. [11][12]

Neighborhoods

Kiryat Arba consists of four neighborhoods: the Kirya, Ashmoret Yitzhak, Ramat Mamre (also known as Givat Harsina) and Givat Avot, near the entrance of Hebron.

Landmarks

Kahane Memorial Park is named for Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of Kach, a far right political party, who was assassinated in the United States by an Arab gunman.[13] The grave of Baruch Goldstein, who perpetrated the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, is across the street from the park. According to some news reports, it has become a place of pilgrimage for the far right.[14]

Arab-Israeli conflict

Between 1981-1986, four residents of Kiryat Arba were shot and wounded in the Hebron marketplace by arab terrorists. In 1994, a 17-year old girl from Kiryat Arba was shot to death in a drive-by shooting by an arab terrorist. [15] On August 31, 2010, four Jewish residents, including a pregnant woman, were shot to death in their car outside Kiryat Arba by arab terrorists.[16]

Notable residents

References

  1. ^ "Table 3 - Population of Localities Numbering Above 2,000 Residents and Other Rural Population" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  2. ^ "The Geneva Convention". BBC News. 10 December 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  3. ^ http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0614.htm
  4. ^ http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=4&CHAPTER=13
  5. ^ http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=4&CHAPTER=13#C2984
  6. ^ Israel Handbook
  7. ^ Israel settlers obstruct building curbs inspectors BBC News. 1 December 2009
  8. ^ The settlers' struggle BBC News. 19 December 2003
  9. ^ Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory International Court of Justice, 9 July 2004. pp. 44-45
  10. ^ New Advent Catholic Encylcopedia.
  11. ^ Hebron
  12. ^ Jpost
  13. ^ Specter, Michael (1990-11-06). "Jewish Leader Kahane Slain in New York". Washington Post.
  14. ^ "Graveside party celebrates Hebron massacre." BBC News, 21 March, 2000. [1]
  15. ^ Terrorist attacks and violent incidents in Kiryat Arba
  16. ^ The Lawless West Bank: The Next Powder Keg?
Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Kiryat_Arba&oldid=464463570"