Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Monday that Israel has canceled key provisions of the 1997 Hebron Agreement, stripping the ‘Palestinian’ municipality of planning and construction authority over Jewish areas of the city and its holy sites.
“Yesterday we canceled the Hebron Agreement,” Smotrich said at a ceremony announcing a new town called Doren in the Hebron hills. “For many years, one of the most absurd clauses of Oslo remained in place, with authority over the Jewish town in Hebron and the holy sites dependent on Hebron’s terror municipality. Yesterday we put an end to that.”
The move was completed Sunday night when Israel’s Supreme Planning Council approved the final decisions needed to implement a cabinet resolution Smotrich initiated several months ago. Planning and construction authority over Jewish areas in Hebron and holy sites—including the Cave of the Patriarchs—now rests entirely with the State of Israel rather than Hebron’s municipality.
The Cave of the Patriarchs | Photo: Wissam Hashalmon, Flash 90
“This is much more than a planning procedure,” Smotrich added. “This is a historic correction. We are continuing this regulation revolution, strengthening governance and deepening Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.”
Smotrich serves as both finance minister and a minister within the Defense Ministry, where he oversees civilian affairs in Judea and Samaria.