The Nahal Hevron (נחל חברון; Hebron Stream), known in Arabic as the Wadi al-Khalil upstream and the Wadi al-Samen downstream, is a stream that flows along the border between

Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...

and the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

. The source of the Nahal Hevron is in the city of

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

, and its mouth is its confluence with

Nahal Be'er Sheva The Nahal Be'er Sheva (נַחַל בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע; Beersheba Stream) is a stream in southern Israel which originates just west of Tel Arad, southeast of the Yatir Forest, and is a tributary of the Besor Stream. Its tributaries are the ...

near the settlement of

Omer Omer may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Omer (unit), an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem * The Counting of the Omer (''sefirat ha'omer''), a 49 day period in the Jewish calendar People * A variant spelling of the g ...

. It is a tributary of the Nahal Be'er Sheva and part of the

Besor Stream Wadi Gaza () and Besor Stream (, ) are parts of a river system in the Gaza Strip in Palestine and the Negev region of Israel. Wadi Gaza is a wadi (river valley) that divides the northern and southern ends of the Gaza Strip, whose major tributar ...

drainage basin. The stream passes near

Dahariya Ad-Dhahiriya (also az-Zahiriya) () is a city in the Hebron Governorate of Palestine, 22 km southwest of the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, ad-Dhahiriya had a population of ...

, Beersheba, and the northern Negev before it drains into the Nahal Be'er Sheva. In the territory of the State of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, the stream flows through the jurisdictional areas of

Meitar Meitar () is a small local council north-east of Beersheba, in Israel's Southern District. The town lies on Highway 60 just south of the Green Line on the southern edge of Mount Hebron, alongside the Yatir Forest. Metar is 19 km north o ...

, the former Abu Basma, Omer, and

Tel Sheva Tel Sheva () or Tel as-Sabi () is a Bedouin town in the Southern District of Israel, bordering the city of Beersheba. In it had a population of . History The first Bedouin township in Israel, Tel as-Sabi was founded in 1967 as part of a go ...

, under the responsibility of the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

Pollution

Stream flowing wastewater from cities and industries, and wastewater from sawmills and quarries originating from Palestinian cities, residential areas, and quarries built along it. In the Be'er Sheva Valley, sewage is a significant environmental hazard because thousands of people live close to the river bed. The main source of pollution is the sewage of Hebron and

Kiryat Arba Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba () is an urban Israeli settlement on the outskirts of Hebron, in the southern Israeli-occupied West Bank. Founded in 1968, in it had a population of . The international community considers Israeli settlements in the ...

, estimated at 15,000 cubic meters per day, which also pollutes the Besor Nature Reserve, which changes the nature of the stream from a failed stream that flows high-quality floodwater into a stream with a permanent flow of polluted sewage. Sewage flows throughout the year, polluting the stream and groundwater in the stream, and there are additions of urban and industrial effluents. The Ministry of Environmental Protection, the

Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (, ''HaHevra LeHaganat HaTeva''), or SPNI, is an Israeli non-profit environmental organization working to preserve plants, animals, and natural environments that represent bio-diversity, by protectin ...

(SPNI), and the Shikma-Besor Drainage Authority operate an educational program in the Hebron Stream called "Longing for the River". The three-year plan is aimed at people living in the vicinity of the Hebron River to develop awareness and responsibility for the river and its surroundings. The program relates to how the knowledge base, connection, and belonging between different population groups and the stream can be created with the participation of the formal and informal education system.

References

{{Coord, 31, 21, 44.5, N, 34, 57, 57.5, E, display=title Rivers of Israel Landforms of Southern District (Israel) Negev

Pollution

See also

References