The Israeli government has annulled the administrative division of Hebron, in what officials describe as a historic correction. The move restores unified municipal jurisdiction over the entire city for the first time since the 1997 Hebron Protocol split it into H1 and H2 zones. The decision was announced Tuesday evening, according to Channel 14.
Tonight's government decision to annul the division of Hebron represents the most significant shift in the city's administrative status since the 1997 Hebron Protocol. That agreement, signed under the Oslo Accords framework, divided the city into two zones: H1, under full Palestinian Authority civil and security control (about 80% of the city), and H2, under Israeli military and civil control (the historic core, including the Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Jewish neighborhood of Avraham Avinu, home to several hundred Israelis amid approximately 35,000 Palestinians).
While the Knesset has debated various bills to apply full Israeli law to parts of the West Bank, a direct annulment of the existing division—effectively nullifying a signed international agreement—is a more decisive, less precedented step. The announcement, attributed to the government but not yet officially published in full, did not detail the practical mechanism for the change, including how it would affect ongoing IDF and Civil Administration operations in H1, or the status of the PA presence there.
As The Zioneer previously reported, Hebron has been a flashpoint for tensions between Jewish residents seeking expanded rights and the international community, which views the 1997 Protocol as binding. The move is expected to draw sharp reactions from the Palestinian Authority, the United States, and European capitals. No official White House or State Department response has been published as of this writing.
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