Al-Shuhada Street

Al-Shuhada Street (Arabic: شارع الشهداء, lit. Martyr's Street),^[2] nicknamed Apartheid Street by Palestinians and King David Street by Israeli settlers,^[3] is a street in the Old City of Hebron.

Shuhada Street, the main road leading to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, used to be the central wholesale market of the Hebron region, as its central location to the tomb, and the location of the bus station and police station, made it a natural gathering place.^[5] After riots following the February 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, Israel closed the street for Palestinians. In the early 2000s, in accordance with the Hebron Protocol, the street was reopened to Arab vehicular traffic. The shops, however, remained closed. The street was closed again to Palestinians after violence in the Second Intifada.

After the closure of all Palestinian shops, the Palestinian municipal and governmental offices, and the central bus station, which became an Israeli army base, the area of al-Shuhada Street became virtually a ghost town. The vegetable and wholesale markets next to the Avraham Avinu settlement have become an area forbidden for Palestinians. An annual international "Open Shuhada Street" demonstration has been organized since 2010.