Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprised everyone Jan. 29 by announcing that he had decided not to extend the mandate of the multinational observer force in Hebron. The force was established in the wake of Baruch Goldstein’s massacre of Muslim worshippers in the Cave of the Patriarchs in February 1994, and after the United Nations Security Council demanded that an international force be stationed in Hebron to monitor events in the most volatile city in the West Bank. The force was first stationed there in May 1994, but it was forced to leave that August, after Israel and the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat could not reach an agreement on what troops would constitute the force and what its precise mandate would be. It returned to the city after the signing of the Hebron Accords in 1997 by then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Arafat.

The Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) now consists of several dozen unarmed observers from Norway, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. They are tasked with documenting events on the ground and writing situation reports, but these have had no real impact on the town. In fact, most reports written by TIPH get very little attention.

On the other hand, quite a lot of information about what happens in Hebron is disseminated to the public. Video clips showing clashes between Palestinians and the settlers in Hebron are published frequently. Israeli human rights organizations such as B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence place activists in Hebron specifically so that they can report to the world about what is happening there. So, for instance, in 2016, they filmed a soldier, Elor Azaria, shooting a neutralized terrorist in the head. Ten years earlier, in 2006, dozens of settlers were filmed throwing rocks at Palestinian homes, in response to plans to evict Jewish families squatting in houses in the local wholesale market, as well as in the illegal outpost of Amona. Furthermore, Breaking the Silence organizes tours of the city for anyone who is interested. Recently, they also released “Occupying Hebron,” a collection of testimonies from soldiers, describing the impossible situation in the city. The bottom line is that with such extensive documentation already circulating, written reports by the multinational force do not contribute much to the discussion.

Over the years, the international observers tried hard not to upset the Israelis too much, so that they could continue to cooperate with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the civil administration. As a result, reports produced by the various human rights organizations were usually much more severe than anything TIPH produced. But Hebron is still Hebron; it is impossible to ignore what is happening there.