Hebron Rehabilitation Committee

The Hebron Old City Rehabilitation Committee -HRC- was established in 1996, in light of the Palestinian Authority's aspiration to preserve Hebron as a historical Arab Palestinian town, to safeguard its cultural and architectural heritage and to save the Old City from the greed of Jewish settlers. The Committee has three main objectives:

• To preserve the city's cultural heritage, by safeguarding the constitutive elements of its old buildings and ultimately save its entire architectural identity.
• To contain and encircle Jewish settlements inside the Old City, by erecting rings of buildings around them in order to stop their horizontal expansion and prevent their urban interconnection by increasing Palestinian population density between them.
• To revive the Old City, by consolidating its bond with its inhabitants, reclaiming abandoned buildings, rehabilitating the infrastructure and connecting it to other City neighbourhoods.

The HRC was able to accomplish record achievements under very difficult circumstances. The majority of buildings around Jewish settlements have been restored and re-inhabited. The number of inhabitants has increased. Hundreds of residential apartments have been restored. Furthermore, some commercial marketplaces, streets and roads have also been rehabilitated and parts of the urban architectural fabric have been rebuilt using traditional means and materials.

The Committee has offered facilities to residents, thus encouraging them to return, and remain in the Old City: renting restored houses for free, exempting Old City residents from paying water, power consumption fees or income taxes, and offering free health insurance to large sections of the population.

Old City restoration works have generated hundreds of direct and indirect job opportunities (for both skilled and unskilled labors) throughout the Committee's years of activities. It is worth noting that most workers receive practical training in restoration techniques and that wages represent 60% of restoration costs, while the remainder part is spent on purchasing materials necessary to complete the Committee's work.

Breathing life back into Old City neighbourhoods takes more than mere restoration and preservation of old buildings: it requires caring for the people who dwell there, by creating a host of facilities and public services inside the Old City, including a social guidance centre. It is also hoped that a new lease of life will be given to the Old 'souq' in light of the revival in the tourist and commercial sectors.

In order to realize its objectives, the Hebron Old City Rehabilitation Committee has endeavoured to overcome a number of political, technical, and administrative obstacles, including the poverty that remains a major problem in the Old City. Many social problems that are a direct result of Israeli control also prevail.

The children's playground in the Old City.

Israel has used its army to prevent reconstruction works in the Old City and military orders have banned the reconstruction of buildings surrounding Jewish settlements. Workers have been detained and entire Palestinian families who have sought to return to live in such houses have been placed under arrest.

The owners and residents of these buildings have cooperated with the Rehabilitation Committee in order to overcome Israeli oppression.

Prohibited buildings were restored secretly and behind closed doors. Some of the restoration works have been completed and attempts are under way to carry out the rest.

Hebron Rehabilitation Committee would like to thank all the governments and associations that supported and still support HRC's projects.

Hebron Museum, in the Old Turkish Bath

The Palestinian National Authority is the major financier of the Hebron Old City Rehabilitation Project. The Saudi Development Fund awarded the Committee a grant of one million dollars, through the Islamic Development Bank. Thanks to the award of this grant, the Committee has developed a project for the rehabilitation of the Ibrahimi Mosque. Moreover, the Committee received donations from the Arab Economic and Social Development Fund.

Much appreciated assistance also includes various grants from the Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish and German governments through their respective official development agencies.

The Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) also contributed by financing certain projects, including the construction of a children's playground and public garden, a social guidance centre, and a fire hydrant network in the Old City.