-- H-2 has 4.3 square kilometers with around 35,000 Palestinians who are controlled by the IDF with the PA only having civil powers over them. H-2 includes the Old City, the commercial center and all Israeli settlement points.
The division notwithstanding, Article 9 of the Hebron redeployment agreement commits both sides "to the unity of the city" and the smooth movement of its residents. It never worked well, but after the second intifada erupted in September, 2000 everything changed for the worst. Henceforth, the IDF expanded limited separation to the entire area containing Israeli settlements. This entailed unprecedented restrictions on Palestinian movement that included a continuous curfew and closure of main streets to residents.
It also led to a sharp rise in violence on both sides, but mostly against Palestinians, the majority of whom are innocent victims. At the same time, the distinction between H-1 and H-2 blurred, and the commitment to free movement and unity of the city was abandoned. In April, 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield, the IDF invaded and took positions in H-1. The PA relinquished control, and it led to the loss of Hebron's City Center commercial, cultural and social areas with the city becoming a ghost town.
Palestinian Abandonment of the City Center
Hebron's City Center once thrived as a commercial hub serving city residents and merchants as well as the entire southern West Bank. Now it's gone, most shops have closed, and Palestinian businesses have moved elsewhere or no longer exist.
In preparing their report, B'Tselem-ACRI surveyed over 1000 structures in areas in or next to where settlements are situated as well as others adjacent to roads for exclusive settler and Israeli security forces use. Most structures are in H-2, and the survey covered the following:
-- structures in the Casbah;
-- the area near the Tomb of the Patriarchs;
-- the Tel Rumeida neighborhood;
--around the Avraham Avinu, Beit Romano and Tel Rumeida points;
-- along (the main) a-Shuhada Street;
-- on the lower part of the Abu Sneineh neighborhood near a-Sahia compound;
-- along settler-only roads in and out of the City Center and Qiryat Arba settlement;
-- around the Givat Haavot settlement; and
-- between and adjacent to Qiryat Arba and Givat Haharsina in the North.
Two small H-1 areas are also included: the southeast Baba-Zawiya neighborhood and the Qarnatini Road, adjacent to the Avraham Avinu settlement. Data was collected door-to-door to document all residential dwellings to determine if they were occupied or abandoned. The same procedure was followed for all business establishments, and the results were shocking, but no surprise.
I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.
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