Smotrich Says Hebron Agreements Were Effectively Reversed

At a ceremony marking the new Doran settlement in the Mount Hebron area, Finance Minister and Defense Ministry minister Bezalel Smotrich said a “historic” process was completed last night that removed all planning and building authorities in Hebron from the city’s municipality, authorities it had held under the Hebron Agreement. He said the move followed a cabinet decision he initiated and that was approved several months ago, and that the High Planning Council approved the final steps needed to implement it.

According to Smotrich, planning and building powers in the Jewish community in Hebron and at holy sites, including the Cave of the Patriarchs, are no longer in the hands of Hebron’s municipality and have returned to the full responsibility of the State of Israel. He said, “Yesterday we canceled the Hebron agreements.”

Smotrich added that for years one of the most absurd clauses of the Oslo framework remained in place, leaving issues involving the Jewish community in Hebron and holy places dependent on what he called “the terrorist municipality of Hebron.” He said, “Yesterday we put an end to it.”

He described the change as “much more than a planning step,” calling it “a historic correction,” and said it continues what he called a revolution to regularize settlement, strengthen governance, and deepen Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank.