Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday at the inauguration ceremony for the new settlement of Doren in the Mount Hebron region that the civil planning and construction clauses of the 1997 Hebron Accord were canceled as of Monday night. According to Smotrich, the Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria approved practical steps that revoke the Palestinian municipality of Hebron's authority in those areas.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Tuesday at the inauguration ceremony of the new settlement of Doren in the Mount Hebron region that the civil planning and construction clauses of the 1997 Hebron Accord were canceled as of Monday night, and that the Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria had approved practical steps revoking the Palestinian municipality of Hebron's authority in those areas — a further specification beyond his earlier statement at the same event.
Smotrich first stated that the Hebron Accords had been canceled at a ceremony earlier Tuesday (The Zioneer reported at 12:03 Jerusalem time). In successive reports, he said he had acted on a cabinet resolution approved months ago, and that the move returns all planning authorities for the Jewish community and holy sites in Hebron to full Israeli control — authorities he said had previously been dependent on the 'Hebron terror municipality.' The latest confirmation that the planning council approved specific revocations adds an operational layer to what initially appeared as a political declaration.
As The Zioneer has reported, Smotrich has long called the Hebron Accord provisions 'one of the most absurd remnants of Oslo' and has systematically worked to dismantle civil coordination provisions that divided the city into H1 (Palestinian-controlled) and H2 (Israeli-controlled) zones. The announcement came alongside the inauguration of Doren, a new settlement in the Mount Hebron region.
It remains unclear whether the Palestinian Authority or the Hebron municipality will issue a formal response. No official statement from the IDF's Civil Administration or the Israeli government cabinet has been published beyond Smotrich's announcement and his office's subsequent clarifications.
6 developments
- DevelopingFar-right minister Smotrich holds ceremony on unauthorized outpost near Hebron
- DevelopingSmotrich backs Lebanon deal, in apparent shift
- DevelopingSmotrich repeats call to demolish buildings in Beirut's Dahiyeh today
- ConfirmedPM Netanyahu cancels Karnei Shomron event for second time, cites security developments
Source and signal
- Internal intake