Dura, Hebron

Dura
Dura
Municipality type A (City)
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic	دورا
• Latin	Durrah (official)
	Municipal Seal of Dura
	Dura Location of Dura within Palestine
	Coordinates: 31°30′25″N 35°01′40″E / 31.50694°N 35.02778°E
Palestine grid	152/101
State	State of Palestine
Governorate	Hebron
Government
• Type	City (from 1967)
• Head of Municipality	Mr. Ahmad Salhoub
Population (2017)
• Total	39,336
Name meaning	Dura (proper noun) from Hebrew אֲדוֹרַים Adoraim

Dura (Arabic: دورا) is a Palestinian city located eleven kilometers southwest of Hebron, in the southern West Bank, in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 39,336 in 2017.^[1] The current mayor is Ahmad Salhoub.

Dura is identified with the ancient town of Adoraim, a city of Judah that, according to the Bible, was fortified by Rehoboam.^[3] The town is also mentioned in other ancient texts such as the Amarna Letters, the Anastasi Papyrus, and the Zenon Papyri. During the Hellenistic period, the town, then also known as Adora, was settled by the Edomites who, after its conquest by John Hyrcanus, converted to Judaism.^[4] In the early Roman period, Adora was a Jewish urban center,^[5] and possibly served as the center of the district of Idumaea for a time.^[6]^[7] The town retained its Jewish character until at least the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt.^[8]

After the Ottoman conquest, Dura appeared in tax records as a village with an agricultural economy.^[9] Bedouin incursions led to demographic shifts, resulting in the emergence of new dominant families as well as migrations.^[10]^[11] In the late Ottoman period, Dura, then the only permanent settlement in the southeastern Hebron Hills, developed into a town and expanded significantly, with prominent clans collectively known as Abu-Darham vying for control and often forming alliances with Bedouin tribes.^[12]^[13] Throughout the Mandatory period, Dura continued to grow and experienced a conflict with nearby Ad-Dhahiriya.^[14] After the British Mandate, in the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Dura came under Jordanian rule. Dura was established as a municipality on January 1, 1967, five months before it came under Israeli occupation after the Six-Day War.

Since 1995, Dura has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority, as part of Area A of the West Bank and as part of the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine. In recent years, the town has seen further development, including the renovation of the Dura International Stadium and the establishment of governmental institutions.

^ ^a ^b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
^ Palmer, 1881, p. 393
^ Bartlett, John R. (1999). "Edomites and Idumaeans". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 131 (2): 108. doi:10.1179/peq.1999.131.2.102. ISSN 0031-0328.
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^ Grossman, D. (1994). Expansion and Desertion: the Arab Village and its Offshoots in Ottoman Palestine (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi. pp. 220–221.
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[PrelimCensus2017-1] Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.

[2] Palmer, 1881, p. 393

[:10-3] Bartlett, John R. (1999). "Edomites and Idumaeans". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 131 (2): 108. doi:10.1179/peq.1999.131.2.102. ISSN 0031-0328.

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[12] Grossman, D. (1994). Expansion and Desertion: the Arab Village and its Offshoots in Ottoman Palestine (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi. pp. 220–221.

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