Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday he had canceled Palestinian civil authority over the site of the Cave of Patriarchs, known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the occupied West Bank. The statement escalates his ongoing push to assert full Israeli control over holy sites in Hebron, following similar moves announced Monday regarding planning powers in the city.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday evening that he had stripped the Palestinian Authority of its civil authority over the Cave of Patriarchs (the Ibrahimi Mosque) in Hebron, in the latest escalation of his campaign to assert exclusive Israeli sovereignty over the contested holy site.
The statement follows his announcement Monday night that he had canceled the civil planning and construction clauses of the 1997 Hebron Accord — restoring full Israeli planning authority over Jewish communities and holy sites in the city — and his formal inauguration of a new Jewish neighborhood in the southern Mount Hebron area on Tuesday morning. The earlier announcements were covered by The Zioneer at 12:50 and 13:55 today.
Smotrich's latest move comes hours after Hamas issued an official statement warning that the minister's declarations on Hebron amount to a political and operational escalation of unprecedented scale, as The Zioneer reported at 14:37.
The exact scope of the cancellation — whether it is a formal administrative order with practical effect on the ground, or a political declaration — remains unconfirmed by independent official sources. The IDF's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and the Palestinian Authority have not yet commented. As minister with authority over civilian affairs in Judea and Samaria, Smotrich has the power to enact such changes through the Civil Administration, but the concrete implementation timeline is not yet clear.
- StrongSmotrich: I canceled Hebron Accord's civil planning clauses, restoring full Israeli authority
- DevelopingHamas issues formal warning over Smotrich's Hebron sovereignty push
- StrongMinister Smotrich inaugurates new Jewish neighborhood in southern Mount Hebron
- DevelopingForeign Ministry contradicts Smotrich: Hebron Agreement not canceled
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