History of glass
The history of glass-making dates back to at least 3600 years ago in Mesopotamia. However, they may have been producing second-rate copies of glass objects from Egypt, where this complex craft originated. Other archaeological evidence suggests that the first true glass was made in coastal north Syria, Mesopotamia or Egypt. The earliest known glass objects, of the mid second millennium BC, were beads, perhaps initially created as the accidental by-products of metal-working (slags) or during the production of faience, a pre-glass vitreous material made by a process similar to glazing. Glass products remained a luxury until the disasters that overtook the late Bronze Age civilizations seemingly brought glass-making to a halt.
Hebron glass
While acknowledging that the production of glass in Palestine dates back to Roman period, Nazmi Ju'beh, director of "RIWAQ: Centre for Architectural Conservation", contends that the practices of today's glass industry in Hebron most likely emerged in the 13th century CE. This corresponds to what foreigners observed, like Jacques de Vitry who around 1080 mentioned Acre and Tyre, (but not Hebron), as glass-producing cities, while by 1483, when Felix Fabri visited the city, he described passing "through the long street of the city, in which work-people of divers crafts dwelt, but particularely workers in glass; for at this place glass is made, not clear glass, but black, and of the colours between dark and light."