Voice of America's fractured history of Hebron

From VOANews:

Palestinian Residents Say Peace Only Possible Without Jewish Settlers

Among the biggest challenges to the U.S.-brokered peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians is the conflict surrounding the more than 100 Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians say the settlements make it impossible for them to have a contiguous Palestinian state and have threatened to quit the negotiations unless Israel extends a partial construction freeze that is set to expire September 26.

Palestinian residents in the area around Hebron - the scene of frequent clashes between the two groups - want more than a construction freeze. They are calling for a total withdrawal of settlements.

Jabari lives in an area of Hebron across the road from the entrance to this neighborhood, a part of the Kiryat Arba settlement.

He is on the front line of the conflict between Palestinians who have lived here for hundreds of years and Jewish settlers who have made this their home here over the past few decades.

It is bad enough that VOA doesn't mention the Jewish ties to Hebron that span thousands of years, nor the the 1929 massacre and 1930s riots that ethnically cleansed Hebron of Jews.

There's another small fact about Hebron's Arab population that VOA doesn't seem to realize: Hebron's Arab population has more than quadrupled since it became "occupied." In other words, the majority of Hebron's Arab residents have not lived there any longer than the Jewish residents of Kiryat Arba and Hebron! Most of them moved into the area after Israel recovered the area in 1967.


(h/t an anonymous emailer)