Israel Approves Construction in Hebron Without City Hall Sign-off for First Time in Decades

Israel’s Higher Planning Council in Judea and Samaria approved construction in Hebron on Wednesday without needing approval from the city’s Arab municipality, the first such move in decades. The decision came one day after Finance Minister and Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich announced that authority would be taken away from Hebron’s municipality.

The approved project is a 1,000-square-meter building for the Shavei Hebron yeshiva near Beit Romano. Alongside it, the council approved 576 additional housing units across Judea and Samaria, part of Smotrich’s policy of deepening Israel’s presence and strengthening settlement.

The article says the move corrects one of the most “absurd” clauses of the Hebron Protocol, under which planning and construction powers for the Jewish community in Hebron and holy sites such as the Cave of the Patriarchs depended on the Arab-run Hebron municipality. After a cabinet decision approved several months ago at Smotrich’s initiative, those powers have now returned to full Israeli control.

Smotrich said on Tuesday at a ceremony announcing the new settlement of Doran in the Hebron Hills, “Yesterday we canceled the Hebron agreements.” He added, “For many years one of the most absurd clauses of Oslo remained in place, when powers relating to the Jewish community in Hebron and the holy places were dependent on the terror municipality of Hebron. Yesterday we put an end to it.”

The council also advanced other plans in Judea and Samaria, including a 456-unit plan at Mitzpe Jericho in Binyamin, and final approval for 120 units in the El Metan neighborhood of Karnei Shomron after long opposition. Smotrich said the measures were “much more than a planning step” and thanked the Civil Administration and the Settlement Administration for carrying them out.