Other sights in and around Hebron include the market, one of the largest, most interesting, and, because of the intifada, potentially most dangerous in the West Bank. The vaulted ceilings and booths indicate that the structure is medieval Crusader, but the artifacts sold are distinctly Middle Eastern. Blown Hebron glassware, in beautiful blue-green colors, is the market’s specialty. You’ll also find skinned camels and various animal heads. Stay close to your companions at all times and remember the route out.

A five-minute walk west of the town center, down the street from the Arab bus station, stands the Oak of Abraham (Balouta in Arabic), the site of the biblical Mamre, where Abraham pitched his tent to welcome tired travelers and entertained three angels who told him of the impending birth of Isaac (Genesis 18). The oak belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church, which built a monastery around it in 1871. According to Christian tradition, the Holy Family rested here on their way back from Egypt. Unfortunately for the tree, travelers since the Middle Ages have removed splinters from it for good luck, and now nails, baling wire, and rusty steel braces have replaced much of the original pith.

Despite its convincing decrepitude, some challenge the tree’s authenticity and argue that this oak is a mere 600-year-old sapling-they say the oak referred to in Genesis actually stood at Alonei-Mamre north of Hebron on Keizun al-Rama St. If the front gate is locked you can enter from the other side of the monastery’s grounds (The gatekeeper will let you in most any time; small fee required.)