Name of City/municipality: Dura
Population: 39,128 (2017)
Area: 30 Km2
Dura is in the Hebron Governorate, 6 km to the west of Hebron city in southern part of the West Bank. It is bordered by Yatta Town and Hebron city to the east, Taffuh and Idhna Towns to the north, As Samu’ and Adh Dhahiriya Towns to the south. It is located on a mountainous area west of Hebron city at an elevation of 839 m above sea level.
Name of Mayor: Mr. Ahmad Salhoub Al-Swaity
Contact: Info@duracity.ps
Website: http://duracity.ps/web/
Main features:
Dura has a long history, the name Dura is derived from “Dour” which is Canaanite name means dwelling or high place. The old name of Dura was “Adurem” which has a biblical meaning of two places where farmers collect their harvest.
Main economic activities:
The commercial sector in the city is the largest sector in terms of the number of enterprises and employment. Also, the city has a rich history, with many archaeological, touristic and religious sites, as well as a picturesque landscape overlooking the surrounding areas, constituting a valuable role in the local economy development. As well, the city is famous with its agriculture sector comprising a large variety of crops and creating a lot of job opportunities for local community.
Conditions and Environmental challenges:
In Dura, all the essential services are available however suffering from lack of maintenance and proper development, especially in the water network and the bad disposal of waste water is also affecting the environment as well as public health.
Recently, the city is starting to sense indications of climate change that had brought about temperature increment over the previous years and a diminishing in yearly precipitation thus resulting in water scarcity and disturbance of the climatic stability. These threats will leave Dura in confronting a genuine test in water accessibility as well as the management and the continuity of the most affected sector, agriculture.