excerpt:
...'The king of Jerusalem pointed to the roving tribes penetrating from the wastes of Trans-Jordan, and called them Habiru. Habiru is derived from the Hebrew root haber , a member of a band, and habiru means "bandits" and is used for "companions of thieves" in Isaiah 1:23, "troops of robbers" in Hosea 6:9, and "companion of a destroyer" in Proverbs 28:24.
This meaning of the word "Habiru" should have been suggested by the fact that sa-gaz , which is translated "bandits", "Cutthroats", is interchanged with the terms "Habiru". The various theories about Habiru (Khabiru) of the el-Amarna letters - that it signifies "Ivri" ( Hebrew), or "apiru" (miners), or "Afiru" (from the Babylonian region of Afiru - are thus found to be without foundation...'
:’) (from 1952) Thanks!
and, from the “Theses” (1945):
136. The invasion of the Moabites, Ammonites, and the tribes of Seir is described in the Letters. Khabiru means bandits.