WEST BANK, (PIC)
The Hamas Movement said that the statements and measures announced by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich regarding the city of al-Khalil represent a dangerous escalation in efforts to Judaize the occupied West Bank and a new attempt to impose political and on-the-ground realities that serve the agenda of annexation and settlement expansion.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Hamas said the steps unveiled by Smotrich are aimed at entrenching the occupation and strengthening Israeli control over Palestinian land, particularly in al-Khalil, one of the most historically and religiously significant Palestinian cities.
The statement came after Smotrich announced the cancellation of what is known as the al-Khalil agreement and the transfer of planning and construction powers in the city and at holy sites across the West Bank to the Israeli Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Council. These powers had remained subject to arrangements linked to the Oslo Accords for decades.
Hamas said the measures constitute an attempt to expand settlement influence in al-Khalil and its surroundings as part of a broader colonial project aimed at imposing Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, legitimizing settlements, and accelerating annexation and displacement policies.
The Movement stressed that no matter how far the occupation goes, it will not succeed in altering Hebron’s deeply rooted Palestinian identity or erasing its historical and geographical reality. Hamas emphasized that al-Khalil will remain an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories despite ongoing efforts to Judaize the city.
In this context, Hamas called on Palestinians to strengthen their attachment to their land and national principles, expand popular resistance against annexation and settlement plans, and intensify all forms of resistance to confront Israeli policies aimed at imposing new realities on the ground.
The Movement also renewed its call on the international community and the United Nations to urgently fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities, intervene to stop policies that violate international law and international legitimacy, and address developments in the Palestinian territories.
These developments follow a decision by Israel’s security cabinet to strip the al-Khalil municipality of authority over parts of the city’s historic district and place those areas under direct military and settler administration, a move that could pave the way for far-reaching changes to the city’s status and identity.
On May 10, Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation discussed a bill submitted by lawmakers from Otzma Yehudit seeking to revoke the Oslo Accords, the al-Khalil agreement, and the Wye River Memorandum signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization, reflecting a growing Israeli push to dismantle previous political agreements and impose a new reality in the occupied West Bank.
Smotrich stated that the Higher Planning Council of the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank had completed procedures to remove planning and construction powers from al-Khalil’s Old City.
He said the move effectively cancels the al-Khalil agreement and added that it had been coordinated with Israel’s army minister several months earlier.
Smotrich described the measure as going beyond planning issues and constituting a step toward what he called practical sovereignty over Hebron and holy sites in the West Bank.
The move follows an earlier Israeli decision transferring authority over the Ibrahimi Mosque from the al-Khalil municipality to Israel’s Higher Planning Council.
The Planning Council is the Israeli body responsible for major master plans that reflect the state’s strategic vision on land use, urban development, and infrastructure projects, which are then submitted to the Israeli government for approval.
The settlement project threatens to place historical sites near the Ibrahimi Mosque under Israeli control while stripping the al-Khalil municipality of planning and construction authority and transferring those powers to the Israeli Civil Administration.
The al-Khalil protocol
In 1997, the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement with Israel known as the al-Khalil Redeployment Protocol. Under the agreement, al-Khalil was divided into two areas: H1 and H2. Israel retained full authority and responsibility over H2, the section that includes the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Following the 1994 massacre carried out by Israeli extremist Baruch Goldstein, which killed 29 Palestinians and wounded hundreds while they were performing dawn prayers at the mosque, Israel imposed a temporal and spatial division of the site between Muslims and Jews and introduced restrictions on Muslim worshippers.
More recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that al-Khalil, including the Ibrahimi Mosque, would fall under Israeli sovereignty, effectively meaning its annexation to Israel.