Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and a woman hold a map that shows the long-frozen E1 settlement scheme, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, on the day of a press conference near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Credit: Ronen Zvulun)
BEIRUT — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he had ''canceled the Hebron accords'' by transferring planning and zoning authority in parts of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron from the Palestinian municipality to Israeli control.
According to Smotrich, this measure stems from a decision by the security cabinet that he himself presented and which was approved last February. The Israeli government then adopted a series of measures aimed at tightening its control over the occupied West Bank, including in areas under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction under the Oslo accords.
The Israeli minister said the Higher Planning Committee of Israel's civil administration, part of the Defense Ministry and responsible for civil affairs in the West Bank, implemented this decision on Monday.
“Yesterday, we canceled the Hebron accords,” Smotrich declared at a ceremony marking the establishment of a new settlement in southern West Bank.
He condemned what he described as “one of the most absurd clauses of the Oslo accords,” under which issues related to Hebron’s Jewish settlements and holy sites depended on the “terrorist” municipality of Hebron. He added that this decision is part of government efforts to legalize outposts and “deepen Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” a term Israel uses for the West Bank.
The February decision also provided for new management mechanisms for Israeli-controlled sites in Hebron, including the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a contested holy site in the old city. Signed in 1997 as part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process stemming from the Oslo accords, the protocol on redeployment in Hebron called for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the H1 area, about 80% of the city, while Israel retained security control over H2, which notably includes the Jewish settlement.
Civil authority in this area had nevertheless been transferred to the Palestinian Authority. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, a position reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion of July 2024, which judged the occupation illegal and called for its dismantlement, in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted in 2016.
The Tomb of the Patriarchs holds cenotaphs built above tombs assigned to the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives. According to Jewish tradition, the cave is also the burial place of Adam and Eve.
