Last year, I spent a day in Hebron. When we arrived at our destination, at an apartment rented by the Christian Peacekeepers Team, a woman from the flat next door offered us a cup of tea. She told us that for many years now, her front door had been welded shut by Israeli authorities, to prevent her exiting or entering from Shuhada Street, a street with several Jewish settlements. A man in his 30s told us how his wife’s family was prevented from using their land, since Israeli authorities had for several years declared it a potential archeological site, though he claimed that this was spurious claim. A while later, when we stood on the roof of the building, an Israeli soldier told us to get down. When we made our way to the center of the Old City, seeing all the ways Israel has hemmed in and restricted access to the Palestinian area of the city. To get to the tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, we had to pass through several IDF checkpoints, and we saw various barriers, in the street in front of the tomb, indicating that Jews should keep to one side of the street, Palestinians to the other.

The next morning, we went with a few members of the Christian Peacemakers Team as part of their daily monitoring of a school near the center of the Old City. We watched as all the students, elementary and middle school students, passed through an Israeli checkpoint, guarded by an armed personnel carrier with a skunk water cannon. After about 15 minutes we started to hear the booming of tear gas and stun canisters. Teachers came to gather the students. We were later told that there had been some rock throwing at Israeli soldiers. Some were students, some, we were told, were hooky players, who played this dangerous game regularly. A handful of youngsters were detained. This was, we were told, a typical school day.

Hebron is one of the most dangerous places on earth. It certainly is the most dangerous place I have ever visited. The part of the city under direct Israeli control seethes with mutual hatred and fears. It is no accident that it has emerged as the epicenter of the current disturbances in Israel and the West Bank. There has been a serious incident almost every other day. About 12 Palestinians have been killed—the precise numbers are not easy to find–and at least one Israeli soldier. Some of the Palestinians killed were probably trying to harm Israelis; some of those were killed in more ambiguous circumstances. Israel refused to return the corpses of the killed Palestinians to their families, though after major protests, some, but not all of the bodies have been turned over. Israel has restricted access to the Old City. The incidents continue on both sides.

It is not an accident that Hebron is now at the epicenter of the current unrest. Massive police presence can keep East Jerusalemites in East Jerusalem. But given the presence of several Israeli settlements in the heart of Hebron, there is no way to separate Jews and Palestinians. To visit Hebron is to see in its most concrete and concentrated form, the folly of the occupation, the place where the bitter hatreds and fears on both sides are at their most toxic. But Hebron is not an anomaly. Hebron is the occupation.