Hebron gets first construction approval without city hall sign-off in decades

Israel’s Civil Administration planning council approved 576 new housing units in Judea and Samaria on Wednesday, along with a new 1,000-square-meter building for the Shavei Hebron yeshiva near Beit Romano in Hebron. The Hebron approval is the first of its kind since Defense Minister and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich changed the process so that some projects in the area no longer need approval from Hebron’s municipality.

The project was approved directly by Israeli planning bodies, without consent from the Palestinian city government, for the first time in decades. The decision is being presented as part of the government’s policy to expand settlement construction.

At the same session, planners also advanced major projects elsewhere in the West Bank. In Mitzpe Jericho, in the Binyamin area, a plan for 456 additional homes was approved for deposit, with the stated goal of enabling the settlement’s expansion and the future absorption of thousands more residents. In Karnei Shomron’s Al-Maten neighborhood, 120 housing units were approved for final validity after long planning procedures and the removal of objections.

Smotrich welcomed the move, saying, “We continue to build the Land of Israel in practice and implement practical sovereignty in settlement.” He called the Mitzpe Jericho expansion and the new Shavei Hebron building “important and moving steps” that strengthen Israel’s hold on the territory and the country’s security.