As Joni Mitchell says, you don’t miss what you got till it’s gone. The Palestinian residents have become the ghosts of Hebron due to the few hundred Israeli settlers who have terrorized the local population for years and forced them to leave the once vibrant Palestinian city. During the wave of violence over the winter of 2015-16, the Shin Bet security service released figures showing that a disproportionately high number of terrorists attempting to stab, shoot and drive over Jews came from the Hebron and Yattir region. The Old City’s 700 Jewish settlers are known for their violent intimidation and harassment, not only towards the 150,000 Palestinians that live in Hebron — which as a result, parts of the city have become a ghost town with most Palestinian businesses forced to close and families forced to leave — but also towards visitors, both Israeli and international. The planned tour, organized by a Jerusalem-based group called Breaking the Silence, was scheduled to provide students with testimony from IDF soldiers and veterans who have served in the West Bank. Don't check the alphabet. Consequently, for ten days each year Muslims are allowed to access the entire complex. Yehuda assured us that other tours are planned, and if the aim of the journey was to expose the public to the brutal reality of what is happening in Hebron, then the Breaking the Silence tour did just that. This is a demonstrably false claim: Hebron, with its small Jewish population of approximately 800 people living in the heart of a hostile city and surrounded by approximately 200,000 Palestinians, is a unique situation and very much the exception, rather than the rule. There are still only 26 letters, and 'black' isn't among them. It also fails to tell visitors to Hebron that a nearby shrine and prayer area in his memory were razed by the Israeli military in 1999 following a Supreme Court ruling and the passage of a law designed to prohibit monuments to terrorists. There is no other city under Israeli control in which a Jewish population is entirely surrounded at close quarters and guarded by hundreds of soldiers. During the bloody Second Palestinian Intifada, waves of suicide bombers and gunmen attacked Israeli civilians on buses, in cafes, in malls, and in the streets. Ten minutes later, a welcome message popped up on my phone. Review: Rules for Living (Sydney Theatre Company), Review: Elysian Fields (Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival), Review: Mesmerism (Ensemble Offspring, Sydney Opera House), World Premiere: James Henry’s Zoom Meeting, Review: Ayres & Graces: Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Robert Macfarlane releases hilarious opera protest song, Review: SXS Returns (Southern Cross Soloists, QPAC), The belated season for season announcements, Review: love fail (Gertrude Opera and Monk Parrots), Review: Superheroes (Griffin Theatre Company), The Fractured Orchestra brings young musicians together, We’ve got magic to do on stage – and in the foyer, Review: Wonnangatta (Sydney Theatre Company). HonestReporting is not aligned with any government or political party or movement. The radical ideology and strength of Hamas in Hebron is a source of concern not only for Israel, but the PA as well. Arab hostility is not a mere product of Israeli “occupation”, as some would have it, or “liberation”, as others would describe the events of 1967, in which Israel gained control of the city.