The Hebron River or Stream, in Hebrew Nahal Hevron, in Arabic Wadi al-Samen and Wadi al-Khalil, is a stream that flows along the border between

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

and the

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-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 sout ...

. The source of the Hebron River is the city of

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...

, which is mostly in the Palestinian Authority. The stream is part of the basin of the

Besor Stream The Besor ( he, נחל הבשור, ''Nahal HaBesor'') is a wadi in southern Israel. The stream begins at Mount Boker (near Sde Boker), and spills into the Mediterranean Sea near Al-Zahra in the Gaza Strip, where it is called Wadi Gaza ( ar, وا� ...

. It passes near Dahariya,

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

and the northern

, drains to Nahal Be'er Sheva near the settlement of Omer and ends in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

on the shores of the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. In the territory of the State of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, the stream flows through the jurisdictional areas of

Meitar Meitar ( he, מֵיתָר) 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 ...

, Abu Basma, Omer, Tel Sheva, and Galili, under the responsibility of the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

Pollution

Stream flowing wastewater from cities and industries, and wastewater from sawmills and quarries originating from Palestinian cities, residential, and quarries built along it. In the Beer 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 :''This article is mainly about the modern Israeli settlement, not the biblical town'' Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba ( he, קִרְיַת־אַרְבַּע, , Town of the Four) is an urban Israeli settlement on the outskirts of Hebron, in the south ...

, 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 that pollute 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 ( he, החברה להגנת הטבע, ''HaHevra LeHaganat HaTeva''), or SPNI, is an Israeli non-profit environmental organization working to preserve plants, animals, and natural environments that repr ...

(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, in order to develop awareness and responsibility for the river and its surroundings. The program relates to the way in which 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 missing, Israel Rivers of Israel Geography of the Gaza Strip Landforms of Southern District (Israel) Rivers of the Gaza Strip Negev