Bezalel Smotrich Revokes Hebron Municipality Planning Powers, Undermining Palestinian Authority Over Ibrahimi Mosque

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that Israel revoked the Hebron municipality’s civil planning and construction powers in areas covered by the 1997 Hebron Agreement, a move Palestinians said undermines existing accords and deepens Israeli control in the occupied West Bank.

“Israel has seized planning and construction powers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied West Bank from Palestinian authorities, scrapping parts of an agreement in place since the 1990s, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday”

Al Jazeera

The decision came during the inauguration of the illegal Israeli settlement of Doreen in the Mount Hebron area, and the move essentially means Palestinians have also lost municipal authority over the Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied West Bank.

Al Jazeera

Smotrich said Israeli authorities had completed procedures to transfer planning authority from the Palestinian municipality to Israeli bodies, affecting powers retained by the municipality under the Oslo process that divided Hebron into the Palestinian-administered H1 sector and the Israeli-controlled H2 sector.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said, "Such unilateral measures are rejected and condemned, and constitute a violation of signed agreements with the Israeli side, as well as a breach of international law," while Hebron Mayor Yusuf al-Jabari warned the unilateral changes could have serious consequences for local governance, municipal services and daily life.

The TRT World account also said Palestinians warn the steps are accelerating illegal settlement expansion and laying the groundwork for the formal annexation of occupied territory, threatening prospects for a future Palestinian state.

Smotrich described the move as "much more than a planning step" and said it represented "a step ... of practical sovereignty, of governance" while attending a ceremony marking the laying of the foundation stone for a new Israeli settlement near Hebron.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the decision as unlawful, with the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas saying it "views this measure as harmful to the political and legal status of the city of Hebron and to the signed agreements concerning it."

AnewZ

In a separate account, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a tweet that "contrary to the finance minister’s statements, the Hebron Agreement was not canceled" and added that a cabinet decision made months ago addressed planning and construction authority in the Jewish settlement and at Jewish heritage sites only.

Al Jazeera also quoted Hebron Mayor Yusuf al-Jabari saying the agreements constitute "a political framework governing Hebron’s administrative, security and service arrangements," and that any unilateral modification outside existing international understandings amounted to "a serious breach" with far-reaching consequences.

The Al Jazeera reporting further said Israel retained security control over H2, which includes the Jewish settlement and the Ibrahimi Mosque, while civil powers, including planning and construction, remained with the Palestinian municipality under the 1997 Hebron Agreement.

The Israeli Supreme Court held a landmark session to review a petition against the decision of the occupation’s Civil Administration that confiscated the powers to administer the Haram al-Ibrahimi and granted them to settler entities, a move described by the Hebron municipality and human rights organizations as a flagrant assault on the existing historical and legal status quo.

“Israel has seized planning and construction powers at a Jewish and Muslim shrine in the occupied West Bank from the Palestinian Authority, scrapping an agreement in place since the 1990s, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday”

Asharq Al-Awsat English

The News Source account said the decision included revoking the planning, building, and administration authority historically granted to the Hebron Municipality under signed agreements (including the 1997 Hebron Protocol) and transferring it to the Occupation’s Higher Planning Council.

During the session, the legal team representing the Hebron Municipality and the Hebron Development Committee warned that control of administration is a prelude to turning the Haram entirely into a Jewish synagogue and gradually preventing Muslims from accessing it, and lawyers argued that excavations and constructions already begun threaten the structural integrity of the historic building dating back thousands of years.

The same report said the Ministry of Awqaf warned that ongoing tampering with the Haram’s powers could drive the area toward a religious war, stressing that the Haram is Islamic property that cannot be divided or shared.

In parallel, Reuters reporting said the Hebron moves come after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved steps earlier this year to make it easier for settlers to buy land in the West Bank and give Israeli authorities more enforcement powers in the territory, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s office called the seizure of powers an "infringement upon the political and legal status of Hebron" and a violation of international law.