Palestine: Hebron – Beit Hadassa Building
Beit Hadassa is a historical building in the Jewish settlement side in Hebron. It was built in 1893 and was one of the first charity clinics in the area. The money originally came from the contributions of North African Jews, and later Jews from India and Baghdad. The clinic provided free medical services to everybody in the community, Jews and Arabs alike. In 1929, Arab rioters attacked and slaughterers many Jews, eventually forcing the British administrators of Palestine to evacuate all the Jews out of Hebron. When Israel won the 6-day War in 1967 and re-entered Hebron, several groups of the most militant settlers occupied the partially ruined Beit Hadassa building and refused to leave, despite the Israeli government demanding they do. Eventually, the settlers were allowed to remain in the building and the building became the symbol of the reestablishment of Jewish presence in Hebron. Today, it is the Museum of Jewish History in the ancient city.
