Celebration of the Jewish holiday of Purim in the West Bank city of Hebron .Under heavy army protection, approximately 200 Israelis paraded in costumes through the predominantly Palestinian city to celebrate Purim, which marks the deliverance of the Jewish people from a genocidal plot in ancient Persia, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther. With more than 170,000 Palestinian residents, Hebron has long been a flashpoint because of a settler enclave of around 600 hardline Jews in the heart of the city, and a further 6,500 settlers living in Kiryat Arba on the outskirts.
