Hebron settlers build housing on Palestinian shop rooftops

About 500 settlers live inside Hebron’s Old City, a pocket where international law designates the presence as illegal, while Palestinian residents watch mobile structures on commercial rooftops threaten to swallow their livelihoods and reshape the neighborhood’s identity. Al Jazeera reported that the friction point intensified on October 29 when settlers placed prefabricated structures atop commercial buildings to accommodate 20 new units. The expansion includes building housing on top of Yusuf’s tailoring shop.

Tailor Preserves Family Business Beneath Settlement Structures

Yusef al-Khatib, 65, spends his days working a sewing machine inside a tailoring shop inherited from his father. His father began working at the business about 80 years ago, with Yusuf helping out since he was five years old. Nearly 60 years later, he is still working there, and prefabricated settlement structures loom on the rooftop directly above his workspace. This shop is my livelihood and the livelihood of my family. It enabled me to raise my children and provide them with an education, he told Al Jazeera. He intends to keep the doors open despite the uncertainty brought by the overhead expansion.

Bader al-Daour al-Tamimi shares that immediate vulnerability. Settlers took over the rooftop above his shop to establish a new outpost, leaving him worried about funding his four children through university. Shop owners have come to expect that they may not be able to open their shops the following day, because of the constant threats from settlers and soldiers, al-Tamimi told Al Jazeera. Our presence here is not just about business; this is the home of our fathers and grandfathers, and part of our history.

Half a Century on Shalala Street

Adel Mustafa al-Shuyukhi, 67, has spent half a century working a shop inherited from his father, learning every corner of the neighborhood. The commercial properties sit on Shalala Street, the main entrance to Hebron’s Old City, adjacent to Shuhada Street. Shuhada Street has remained closed to Palestinians since 1994, following an attack where an Israeli settler killed 29 worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque. Over decades of operation, al-Shuyukhi has watched markets close and military gates rise at neighborhood entrances.

Despite all the restrictions, we are standing firm and do not want to leave our shops, al-Shuyukhi told Al Jazeera. He instructs his children to maintain access if anything happens to him, ensuring the storefronts stay active against displacement.

The 1997 Protocol and the Division of H1 and H2

Issa Amro, founder of the Youth Against Settlements group, places the current rooftop expansion in a broader historical context that includes the 1997 Hebron Protocol. That agreement split the city into two distinct zones. Roughly 80 percent of Hebron fell under H1, placing civil and security responsibilities with the Palestinian Authority.

Amro pointed out that recent changes extend beyond areas shuttered since 1994, reaching the Old Municipality building and commercial rooftops. Israeli flags raised above settler buildings are seen as another attack on the Palestinian identity of the Old City. Settlers used to be confined to certain areas, but today, we are seeing expansion beyond the areas that have been closed since 1994, reaching the Old Municipality building and the rooftops of commercial properties, Amro said. These restrictions aim to empty the area of its Palestinian residents and expand the settlement presence.