Hebron Governorate

31°30′N 35°06′E / 31.5°N 35.1°E / 31.5; 35.1

Hebron Governorate
Governorate
2018 United Nations map of the area, showing the Israeli occupation arrangements in the governorate
Country Palestine
Area
 • Total
1,060 km2 (410 sq mi)
Population
 (2017 Census)[1]
 • Total
711,223
 This figure excludes the Israeli West Bank settlements
ISO 3166 codePS-HBN
Governorates of the West Bank (Palestine)

The Hebron Governorate (Arabic: محافظة الخليل, romanized: Muḥāfaẓat al-Khalīl) is an administrative district of Palestine in the southern West Bank.

The governorate's land area is 1,060 square kilometres (410 sq mi) and its population according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in mid-year 2019 was 1,004,510. This makes the Hebron Governorate the largest of 16 governorates in both population and land area in the Palestinian territories.[2] The city of Hebron is the district capital or muhfaza (seat) of the governorate. The governor is Hussein al-Araj and its district commander is Abdel Fattah al-Ju’eidi.[3]

During the first six months of the First Intifada 42 people in Hebron Governorate were killed by the Israeli army.[4]

Emirates proposal

The Wall Street Journal reported in July 2025 that a group of sheikhs of the Jaabari clan in Hebron, led by Wadee’ al-Jaabari, had penned a joint letter to Israeli economy minister Nir Barkat proposing to leave the Palestinian Authority to join the Abraham Accords and set up an "Emirate of Hebron". This plan had previously been proposed by Israeli scholar Mordechai Kedar, which would have Palestinian clans rule their local territories, rather than the PA or Hamas, modeled on the United Arab Emirates system. Jaabari met with a WSJ writer and later a Jerusalem Post writer, and said the sheikhs reject the Oslo Accords, do not trust the Palestinian Authority, and want a new solution. The plan will create a special economic zone and allow thousands of Hebron residents to work in Israel, which stopped after the October 7 attacks.[5][6]

Localities

The Hebron Governorate has a total of seven cities and eighteen towns. The governorate also contains more than 100 Bedouin villages and settlements that are not listed below.[2]

Cities

Municipalities

The following localities have municipality status from the Ministry of Local Government of the Palestinian National Authority.

Village councils

The following have populations over 1,000 persons.

Refugee camps

Demographics

Year Muslims Christians Jews Total Notes and sources
1538 749 h 7 h 20 h 776 h (h = households), Cohen & Lewis[7]
1774 300 Azulai[8]
1817 500 Israel Foreign Ministry[9]
1820 1,000 William Turner[10]
1824 60 h (40 h Sephardim, 20 h Ashkenazim), The Missionary Herald[11]
1832 400 h 100 h 500 h (h = households), Augustin Calmet, Charles Taylor, Edward Robinson[12]
1837 423 Montefiore census
1838 c. 6000–7,000 "few" 700 7–8,000 William McClure Thomson[13]
1839 1295 f 1 f 241 (f = families), David Roberts[14][15]
1840 700–800 James A. Huie[16]
1851 11,000 450 Official register[17]
1851 400 Clorinda Minor[18]
1866 497 Montefiore census
1871–2 2,800 h 200 h 3,000 h Ottoman records for the Syrian provincial sālnāme for these years[19]
1875 8,000–10,000 500 Albert Socin[17]
1875 17,000 600 Hebron Kaymakam[17]
1881 1,000–1,200 PEF Survey of Palestine[17]
1881 800 5,000 The Friend[20]
1890 1,490 Jewish Encyclopedia
1895 1,400 [21]
1906 1,100 14,000 (690 Sephardim, 410 Ashkenazim), Jewish Encyclopedia
1922 16,074 73 430 16,577 1922 census of Palestine[22]
1929 700 Israel Foreign Ministry[9]
1930 0 Israel Foreign Ministry[9]
1931 17,277 109 134 17,532 1931 census of Palestine[23]
1938 0 20,400 Village Statistics, 1938[24]
1945 24,400 150 0 24,560 Village Statistics, 1945[25]
1961 37,868 Jordanian census[26][27]
1967 38,073 136 38,348 Israeli census[28]
1997 n/a n/a 119,093 Palestinian census[29]
2007 n/a n/a 163,146 Palestinian census[30]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Main Indicators by Type of Locality - Population, Housing and Establishments Census 2017" (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  2. ^ a b Hebron Governorate Statistical Yearbook No. 2; Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. pp. 59, 60. PCBS, November 2010.
  3. ^ Hébron
  4. ^ B'Tselem information sheet (July 1989). p. 4.
  5. ^ Bob, Yonah Jeremy (July 6, 2025). "Reporter's Notebook: 'Post' meets with top Hebron sheikh who wants to pull out of PA". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved July 6, 2025.
  6. ^ "The unusual letter from the sheikhs of Hebron: Recognize the 'Emirate of Hebron' and we will recognize Israel". Ynet. Yedioth Ahronoth. Retrieved July 6, 2025.
  7. ^ Lewis, Bernard; Cohen, Amnon (March 8, 2015). Population and Revenue in the Towns of Palestine in the Sixteenth Century. Princeton University Press. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-4008-6779-0.
  8. ^ רבי חיים יוסף דוד אזולאי, Meir Benayhu, Mosad Harav Kook, 1959.
  9. ^ a b c "Hebron". Jewish Virtual Library.
  10. ^ Turner, W. (1820). Journal of a tour in the Levant. Vol. 2. John Murray. p. 261. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  11. ^ "American Board of Foreign Missions: Palestine Mission". The Missionary Herald. March 1825. p. 65.
  12. ^ Augustin Calmet (1832). Dictionary of the Holy Bible. Crocker and Brewster. p. 488. ISBN 978-1-4047-8796-4. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  13. ^ William McClure Thomson, The Land and the Book, Southern Palestine and Jerusalem, p. 275
  14. ^ Robinson, p. 88
  15. ^ David Roberts, The Holy Land – 123 Coloured Facsimile Lithographs and The Journal from his visit to the Holy Land. Terra Sancta Arts. 1982. ISBN 978-965-260-001-1. Plate III – 13. Journal entry March 17, 1839.
  16. ^ James A. Huie (1840). The history of the Jews, from the taking of Jerusalem by Titus to the present time [by J.A. Huie]. p. 242.
  17. ^ a b c d PEF Survey of Western Palestine, Volume III, p. 309
  18. ^ Clorinda Minor (1851). Meshullam!: Or, Tidings from Jerusalem. Arno Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-405-10302-5. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  19. ^ Alexander Scholch (Schölch), "The Demographic Development of Palestine, 1850-1882". International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 17, No. 4. (November 1985). p. 486.
  20. ^ "Jewish Life in the East". The Friend. Vol. 54–55. May 28, 1881. p. 333.
  21. ^ Tzvi Rabinowicz (1996). The Encyclopedia of Hasidism. Jason Aronson. ISBN 978-1-56821-123-7.
  22. ^ Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p. 10
  23. ^ Jessie Sampter (2007). Modern Palestine – A Symposium. Read Books. ISBN 978-1-4067-3834-6.
  24. ^ Village Statistics (PDF). 1938. p. 52.
  25. ^ Government of Palestine (1945), A Survey of Palestine, Vol. 1, p. 151
  26. ^ First Census, Government of Jordan. 1964, p. 06
  27. ^ West Bank, Volume 1 Table I – West Bank population according to 1967 census and Jordanian 1961 census, Levy Economics Institute
  28. ^ West Bank, Volume 1 Table 4 – Population by religion, sex, age, and type of settlement, Levy Economics Institute
  29. ^ "Palestinian Census 1997". Archived from the original on November 15, 2010.
  30. ^ The last official census in 2007 gave 165,000.2007 Locality Population Statistics Archived 2010-12-10 at the Wayback Machine Hebron Governorate Population, Housing and Establishment Census 2007 Archived 2012-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
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