Hebron is one of the oldest cities in Palestine, located in the south of Palestine, and 36 km away from the city of Jerusalem. It rises about 1027 meters from sea level. Its mountains overlook the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea on the East and the coastal plains until the Mediterranean coast on the West. This location is impressive and carries the traditions of its Canaanite ancestors from six thousand years ago when they lived in the city.
The large number of springs in the foothills of the mountains and valleys provide inexhaustible water sources and visitors can observe gorgeous green orchards. You can see the diversity of fruits, olive trees, grapes and plants that prosper from the rich soil and climate. These natural aspects of Hebron caught the eyes of those who arrived to the city long ago. One of the most distinguished people to arrive was the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, who lived in the city and is buried here with his family. His presence provided prestige and sanctity to Hebron.
Visitors continued to come to the city and local inhabitants hosted them overnight and offered them food and drinks. These habits have not broken till the present day because Hebron is still known for its hospitality.
The population of the city of Hebron until 1998 was approximately 180 thousand people. Most people’s livings are based on agriculture and industry. There are many factories in Hebron for pottery and porcelain, glass, footwear, textiles, leather, and special stones and marbles. The municipality created an industrial area which encourages all industries and craft professions to flourish.
As aforementioned, Hebron is rich in natural beauty. There are some special places to visit such as water springs, which include: Ein Ashaaleh, Ein der Baha, Ein Nimra, Ein Al Orneh, Ein Nonor, Ein Khaireldin, Ein Wadi elJouz, Ein El Hamam, Ein Tell Roumedeh, Ein El Shawati and Ein el Hamra.
There are many mosques and ruins in Hebron to visit as well. Some of these places are the path of Mackie, the Tawashi mooring, Aljmaeili and Rabat Mansouri. One who enjoys ancient architectural places should visit the Cave of the Patriarchs, the Gawoliah mosque, the Ibn Othman mosque, the Al Agazzazan mosque, the Baraka mosque and the Sheikh Ali Bakaa mosque. There are also places in the mosques called “mujarad” which is a holy corner of the structure where people go to speak to religious elders to ask them for blessings. Some of these places are the Sheikh Ali Mujarad, the Sheikh Abdul Rahman Alerzrome, the Aldjaibrh Mujarad, the Aladhmiah Mujarad, the Qaimariya Mujarad, the Abu Rish Mujarad and the Chadli Mujarad. In addition to the earliest historical religious sites, there are 35 other mosques which are not as ancient but need some architectural renovation.
The Hebron city is divided into both old and new neighborhoods. The old neighborhoods in the city are: Sheikh Ali Bakaa, Al Agazzazan, Alsoakna, Alakabh, Mohtisbien, Qaton, Masharqa Tahta, Masharqa Fawqa and Alhoushia. The new neighborhoods of the city are: Ein Sara, Wadi al Tofah, Qaitout, Maskobieh, Wadi Alhariya, Dihdah, Hebron University area, Shaabeh, Ein Bani Salim, Alzaitoun Quarter and Bir Haram el Rameh.
As a result of its central location, the city of Hebron was a station for pilgrims and traders alike. Trade expanded in Hebron and grew into a famous well-connected network. A lot of the trade was between Hebron and the cities of Palestine and Transjordan areas.
The following are the names of the Mayors of the Municipality council elected from the year 1880 till present-day:
1. Mr. Abdullah Yusuf Mohtasib (1880-1890)
2. Mr. Ahmed Zablah (1890-1895)
3. Mr. Abdul Rahman Al-Sharif (1895-1900)
4. Mr. Sheikh Arif Sharif (1900-1912)
5. Mr. Sheikh Hussein Al-Sharif (1912-1920)
6. Mr. Sheikh Mokhlis Hammouri (1920-1935)
7. Mr. Nasiruddin Nasir al-Din (1935-1936)
8. Mr. Abdullah Kardous - Assistant Governor Major General (1936-1938)
9. Mr. Nassif Khairi (1938-1940)
10. Mr. Mohammad Ali Al-Jabari (1940-1958)
11. Mr. Rashid Arafa (1958-1962)
12. Mr. Abdul Khaliq Yagmore (1962-1964)
13. Mr. Sheikh Mohammad Ali Jabari (1964-1972)
14. Mr. Sheikh Mohammad Ali Jabari (1972-1976)
15. Mr. Eng. Fahd Qawasmi (1976-1980)
16. Mr. Eng. Mustafa Natsheh (1980-1983)
17. Mr. Zamir Shemesh - Competent authority (1983-1986)
18. Dr. Abdul Majeed Al-Zeer - Commission staff (1986-1994)
19. Mr. Eng. Mustafa Natsheh (1994-2007)
20. Mr. Khaled Osaily (2007-2012)
21. Prof. Dr. Daoud Zatari (2012- present)
Historically Hebron, like other Palestinian cities, had been administered by a self-supervised Governor General Turkish ruler. Then it turned into a self-managed semi-local council until the ruler was appointed to the committee by the ruling Turkish authority. Abdullah was the first mayor of the time and then the model changed and it became a system of electing local presidents, chosen from the heads of the local government committees or municipal councils.
The following will be information about the different members of the committees throughout the ages. It is the starting from the sixth president of the Hebron Municipality, based on the available documentation:
Sixth: Sheikh Mokhlis Hammouri in the period (1920 –1935) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Nasser Eddin Abdel Fattah Nasiruddin
2. Mr. Rashid Arafa
3. Mr. Abdul Hai Khateeb
4. Mr. Badr Abdel Halim
5. Mr. Sheikh Amin Hammouri
Seventh: Mr. Nasir al-Din Abdul Fattah Nasereddin in the period (18/5/1935 – 28/ 5/1936) was Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Othman Takruri
2. Mr. Rashid Arafa
3. Mr. Abdel Azim al-Khatib
4. Mr. Omran Tahboub
Eighth: Mr. Abdullah Kardous in the period (21/10/1936 – 3/8/1938) ran as an assistant municipal governor, Major General with Dr. Ahmed Abdel Aal and then took over management of the municipality as the English governor of the brigade with Dr. Ahmed Abdel Aal for a period of one month until 9/9/1938.
Ninth: Mr. Nassif Khairi in the period (8/10/1938 – 20/10/1940) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Dr. Ahmed Abdel Aal
2. Mr. Sheikh Abdel Azim al-Khatib
3. Mr. Rashid Arafeh
4. Mr. Othman Takruri
Tenth: Sheikh Mohammad Ali Jabari in the period (28/10/1940 – 25/ 2/1942) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Dr. Ahmed Abdel Aal
2. Mr. Abdallah Bashir Amrou
3. Mr. Othman Takruri
4. Mr. Mohammed Yousef Badr
5. Mr. Shaker Qawasmi
Eleventh: Sheikh Mohammad Ali Jabari in the period (26/2/1942 – 25/4/1948) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Abdallah Bashir Amrou
2. Mr. Mohammed Yousef Badr
3. Mr. Shaker Qawasmi
4. Mr. Othman Takruri
5. Mr. Rashid Arafa
6. Mr. Omran Tahboub
Twelfth: Sheikh Muhammad Ali Al-Jabari in the period (31/5/1948 – 3/3/1952) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Othman Takrouri
2. Mr. Mohammed Yousef Badr
3. Mr. Omran Tahboub
4. Mr. Rashid Arafa
5. Mr. Shaker Qawasmi
6. Mr. Rashid Maraka
7. Mr. Yousef Abbas Amrou
Thirteenth: Sheikh Mohammad Ali Al-Jabari in the period (12/3/1952 – 1/10/1955) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Rashid Arafa
2. Mr. Hamdi Sultan
3. Mr. Shaker Qawasmi
4. Mr. Fakhri Arafeh
5. Mr. Fatin Tahboub
6. Mr. Mohammed Musa Hassan
7. Mr. Mohammed Yousef Badr
Fourteenth: Sheikh Mohammad Ali Jabari in the period (3/10/1955 – 16/1/1959) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Rashid Arafa
2. Mr. Hamdi Sultan
3. Mr. Haj Fatin Tahboub
4. Mr. Mohammed Musa Hassan
5. Dr. Mohammed Yahya Shawar
6. Dr. Hafiz Abdul Nabi
7. Mr. Hajj Shahin Shahin
8. Mr. Haj Mahmoud Dweik
9. Mr. Khalil Yousef Abdeen
On 16/1/1956, Dr. Hafiz Abdul Nabi resigned and Mohammad Shawar lost his committee membership position. They were replaced by Hekmat Hammouri and Mohammed Hassouna on 15/12/1956. Faten Tahboub resigned from the Board once he won a seat on the Jordanian parliament on 5/7/1958.
The Sheikh Mohammad Ali Jabari left the Council by resignation of the appointed Minister of Justice on 19/5/1958 and was succeeded in the presidency of the Council. Mr. Rashid Arafeh was elected Mayor and Hamdi Sultan was elected as a vice president.
Fifteenth: Mr. Rashid Arafeh in the period (16/9/1959 – 15/6/1962) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Eid al-Khatib
2. Mr. Tahir Salhab
3. Mr. Abdel Muti Hirbawi
4. Mr. Mohammed Dweik
5. Mr. Ahmed Oweiwi
6. Mr. Sodqi Jabari
7. Mr. Ishaq Abu Khalaf
8. Mr. Issa Abdul Nabi
9. Mr. Youssef Takruri
10. Mr. Solieman Natsheh
11. Mr. Mohamed Hassouna
The last two council members were appointed on 18/1/1960 and continued to work with the Municipality council. Then, Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Sharbati, a municipality council member, died suddenly and Abdel Muti Hirbawi replaced him.
Sixteenth: Mr. Abdul Khaliq Yagmore in the period (3/7/1962 – 28/2/1963) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Hafiz Abdul Nabi
2. Mr. Youssef Takrouri
3. Mr. Sodqi Jabari
4. Mr. Sabri Maraqa
5. Mr. Saeb Al Nazer
6. Mr. Mohammed Nasser Eddin
On 16/12/1962, both Youssef Takrouri and Sodqi Jabari resigned once they won membership of the National Assembly of Jordan. The rest of the committee members continued their work with the Municipality council.
Seventeenth: Mr. Abdul Khaliq Yagmore in the period (11/9/1963 – 1/11/1964) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Eid Hijazi
2. Dr. Mohammed Nasser Eddin
3. Dr. Mohammed Yahya Shawar
4. Mr. Ibrahim Rashid Maraka
5. Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Sharbati
6. Mr. Tawfiq Rajabi
7. Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim Hassouna
8. Mr. Haj Issa Abdul Nabi
9. Mr. Hamdi Sultan
On 23/11/1963, Mr. Faidi Khatib and Dr. Abdul Majeed Al-Zeer joined the Municipality council.
On 15/8/1964, Dr Abdulhay Shawar replaced Dr. Abdul Majeed Al-Zeer as the President of the Council. On 1/10/1964 Mr. Abdul Khaliq Yagmor resigned from his post after he was appointed as a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
Eighteenth: Sheikh Mohammad Ali Jabari in the period (4/11/1964 – 12/4/1976) was received by the mayor's office by a Royal Decree and given the rank of Minister of the council.
Mr. Shehadeh Abdul Aziz Al-Jabari joined the Council rather than Mr. Faidi Khatib who had resigned. Then on 1/12/1965 all of the members of the Council resigned:
1. Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Sharbati
2. Mr. Ibrahim Rashid Maraka
3. Dr. Mohammed Yahya Shawar
4. Dr. Mohammed Nasser Eddin
Replaced by:
1. Mr. Mohammed Musa Hassan
2. Mr. Haj Mahmoud Dweik
3. Mr. Alhaji Suleiman Natsheh
4. Mr. Mohammed Rashid Ahmed
Nineteenth: On 20/4/1966 Mr. Adnan Tahboub was appointed as a member of the Municipality council. Council members continued to work to supplement the electoral period until the year 1967 when he began preparing for the Municipality elections to run for the position of Mayor but the Six-Day War prevented it from happening.
On 1/6/1969 Mr. Adnan Tahboub died and was replaced by Saeb Al Nazer. Another committee member, Mohammed Rashid Sid Ahmed, also died and the council consisted of these committee members without a head figure:
1. Mr. Hamdi Sultan
2. Mr. Mohamed Hassouna
3. Mr. Solieman Natsheh
4. Mr. Tawfiq Rajabi
5. Mr. Haj Issa Abdul Nabi
6. Mr. Haj Mahmoud Dweik
7. Dr. Abdul Hai shawar
8. Mr. Mohammed Musa Hassan
9. Mr. Saeb Al Nazer
10. Mr. Shehadeh Jabari
Twentieth: The Municipality Council continued its work until 1972 when the first municipal elections under occupation took place. Mr. Sheikh Mohammad Ali Jabari became Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Hamdi Sultan
2. Mr. Solieman Natsheh
3. Mr. Tawfiq Rajabi
4. Mr. Shehadeh Jabari
5. Mr. Haj Mahmoud Dweik
6. Dr. Abdul Hai Shawar
7. Mr. Haj Issa Abdul Nabi
8. Mr. Saeb Alnazer
On 13/5/1974 Vice President Hamdi Sultan vacated his position and was replaced by Mr. Saeb Alnazer. He continued his work with the Municipality council until 12/4/1976.
Twenty first: Engineer Fahad al-Qawasmi in the period (28/4/1976 – 1/5/1980) was Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Mustafa Abdel Nabi Natsheh
2. Mr. Haji Rashid Salhab
3. Dr. Awni Zogaer
4. Mr. Haj Ali Ashour
5. Dr. Abdul Aziz Shakir
6. Mr. Ishaq Natsheh
7. Mr. Rajai Katbeh
8. Mr. Khalid Asseily
9. Mr. Kamal Dweik
The Board continued to perform services for citizens until 1980 even as the Mayor Fahad Al-Qawasmi had been away from home due to Occupation. There were temporary committee members that took the role of Acting President.
Engineer Mustafa Natsheh in the period (1/5/1980 – 6/7/1983) became Mayor. Then, Rajai Katbeh resigned from the Municipality Council on 1/4/1980. The Israeli authorities proceeded to dissolve the Municipality Council on 6/7/1983 and appointed a Jewish officer to manage the municipality.
Israeli competent authority would not allow elections to occur. After solving the problem, the Municipality council elected Zamir Shemesh to be the head of Hebron from the period 7/7/1983 until 30/9/1986.
Twenty second: Dr. Abdul Majeed Al-Zeer in the period (1/10/1986 – 1/4/1994) was the Mayor and head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Ahmed Sultan
2. Mr. Othman Sahin
3. Mr. Najib Khatib
4. Dr. Abdul Hai Shawar
However, Dr Abdul Hai Shawer resigned after eight months of duty and allowed the committee to continue its work.
Twenty third: Engineer Mustafa Natsheh was elected in 2/4/1994 and head of these committee members:
1. Dr. Awni Zogaier
2. Dr. Abdul Aziz Ashkir
3. Mr. Khalid Osaily
4. Mr. Kamal Dweik
5. Mr. Ishaq Natsheh
6. Mr. Haj Ali Ashour
Note: Mr. Haj Ali Ashour did not join Municipal Council until a later late.
In 2005, the Mayor appoints three staff members from the local government after upcoming elections were canceled in the third stage. These local government employee are:
1. Mr. Eng. Anwar Shabana
2. Mr. Raed Sharbati
3. Mr. Emad Abu Rajab
Twenty fourth: Mr. Khalid Osaily in the period (15/4/2007 – 8/11/2012) became the mayor of Hebron after a presidential decree appointed him. Mr. Khaled Osaily was head of these committee members:
1. Mr. Ishaq Natsheh
2. Eng. Kamal Dweik
3. Dr. Awni Zogaier
4. Dr. Abdul Aziz Ashkir
In addition to:
5. Eng. Anwar Shabana
6. Mr. Raed Sharbati
7. Mr. Emad Abu Rajab
Twenty fifth: Prof. Dr. Daoud Zatari in the period (11/8/2012 – present) became Mayor of Hebron after his success in the Municipality elections that historically took place on 10/20/2012. Prof. Dr. Daoud Zatari was accompanied by the following committee members who won the Municipality election:
1. Professor Judy Abu Sneineh - Vice Mayor
2. Dr. Anwar Abu Eisha
3. Eng. Jalal Rajabi
4. Dr. Roshdieh Abu Hadid
5. Dr. Raghad Dweik
6. Mrs. Sadia Sultan
7. Dr. Salah Al-Zeer Husseini
8. Retired Major General Awni Natsheh
9. Dr. Farouq Ashour
10. Dr. Firas al-Qawasmi
11. Dr. Qais Daana
12. Prof. Mohammed Omran al-Qawasmi
13. Eng. Nader al-Bitar
14. Eng. Yousef Al-Jabari