Smotrich says Hebron planning powers were removed from the Palestinian municipality

Finance Minister and Defense Ministry Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Tuesday that Israel has completed a move to cancel the Hebron Agreement in the field of planning and construction. He said the decision removes all planning and building authority that had been assigned to the Hebron municipality under the agreement.

The move followed a cabinet decision promoted by Smotrich and approved several months ago. On Monday night, the Higher Planning Council approved the final measures needed to implement it.

According to Smotrich, planning authority in the Jewish community in Hebron and at holy sites, including the Cave of the Patriarchs, is no longer in the hands of the Arab Hebron municipality and has returned to full Israeli control. At the inauguration ceremony for the new settlement of Doran in the South Hebron Hills, he called it a “historic correction.”

Smotrich said, “Yesterday we canceled the Hebron Accords. For many years one of the most absurd clauses of Oslo remained in place, when powers affecting the Jewish community in Hebron and the holy places were dependent on the terrorist municipality of Hebron. Yesterday we put an end to it.” He added that the government is continuing its “revolution” of regularizing settlement, strengthening governance, and deepening Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.