World
Smotrich says he’s ‘abolished Hebron agreement,’ given Israel more power in flashpoint city
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed on Tuesday to have “abolished” components of the 1997 Hebron agreement that gave the Palestinian municipal council of Hebron authority over planning, zoning and construction in the H2 zone of the West Bank city, where the Jewish settlement of Hebron is located along with the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
The Palestinian Authority denounced the step, saying it violated agreements signed with Israel, and called on the US to intervene. The Foreign Ministry also issued a statement, denying that the agreement had been “canceled.”
The move marks the latest step in efforts by the far-right minister to undermine the agreements reached between Israel and the PA in his bid to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state and to see Israel extend its sovereignty over the entire West Bank.
“Yesterday we annulled the Hebron Accords,” declared Smotrich at a dedication ceremony for the establishment of Doran, a new settlement in the Mount Hebron region of the southern West Bank, in reference to the new legal regime in the H2 zone.
“For many years, one of the most absurd clauses of the Oslo accords remained in place, in which authority over the Jewish settlement in Hebron and the holy sites were dependent on the terrorist municipality of Hebron. Yesterday we put an end to that,” he said.
The accords had been signed in a bid to install a compromise order in Hebron, one of the most complex cities in the West Bank, where a community of several hundred Jewish Israelis is almost completely surrounded by some 200,000 Palestinians. It is also home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs holy site. Both Hebron and the tomb have been frequent flashpoints for violence.
Smotrich added that the decision was part of the government’s broader effort to legalize illegal settlement outposts and “deepen Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.”
According to the ultranationalist minister, “the State of Israel” will now have authority over administrative matters in H2. The finance minister did not say which Israeli agency will now have authority over such issues, while his spokesman said merely that the “State of Israel” will control planning, zoning and construction in the zone and declined to elaborate further.
Smotrich stated that the move was based on a security cabinet decision he had introduced and that was approved “several months ago.”
He said that the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, a department of the Defense Ministry that Smotrich also controls, took the necessary steps to implement the decision on Monday.
Security cabinet decisions are not made publicly available.
Smotrich declared that the decision “put an end” to Palestinian authority over construction issues relating to the Jewish settlement in Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
However, the Foreign Ministry denied that the agreement has been cancelled.
“Contrary to the Finance Minister’s statement, the Hebron Agreement has not been canceled,” the ministry said in an English-language post on X.
“Several months ago, the Security Cabinet adopted a decision that specifically concerns jurisdictions in the field of planning and construction with regard to the Jewish community in Hebron and Jewish heritage sites. This decision was made following years of a complete lack of cooperation on these matters by the Hebron Municipality, the ministry said. “Beyond that, no changes have been made.”
The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday condemned the move, saying in a statement that it “views this measure as harmful to the political and legal status of the city of Hebron and to the signed agreements concerning it.”
It added that “such unilateral measures are unacceptable and constitute a violation of the agreements signed by the Israeli side, as well as international law,” and called on the international community, and the US in particular, to intervene immediately.
The decision over civilian authorities in H2 is the latest in a long series of steps taken by the government, largely at Smotrich’s initiative and insistence, to further entrench Israeli rule over the West Bank, massively increase the number of settlements, and assert control over West Bank land. Smotrich has repeatedly declared that these steps are designed to permanently thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state and de facto annex the West Bank to Israel.
The Hebron agreement, or the Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron as it is formally known, was a continuation of the 1995 Oslo II agreement and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process initiated by the Oslo Accords signed in 1993.
Under the terms of the Hebron agreement, signed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his first term as prime minister together with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, Israel withdrew its security forces from the area in Hebron designated as H1, some 80 percent of the city, and the Palestinian police assumed responsibility for security issues there.
Israel retained security control in the area designated as H2, the other 20 percent of the city, which includes the Jewish settlement in Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs. But civil powers, including planning, zoning and construction in H2, were transferred to the Palestinian authorities.
The Tomb of the Patriarchs is revered in Judaism as the burial site of the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. It is also a holy site for Muslims, and a large section of the compound serves as the Ibrahimi Mosque. At the site. different times and spaces are allotted for Jewish and Muslim prayer, and any change to the arrangements typically attracts condemnation.
The settlement movement and the Jewish community in Hebron have long sought to assert Israeli civilian control over the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Last year, the Civil Administration took temporary control over the site in order to carry out construction work at the shrine.
Nurit Yohanan and Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report
