Israel advances new settlement plan at Hebron market, Palestinian authorities say

RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL

The Hebron Municipality said Monday that Israeli authorities are advancing a new settlement plan on the site of a Palestinian market in the southern part of the city.

In a statement, the municipality said the plan, issued by the Israeli Civil Administration’s Planning and Construction Committee, involves constructing two settler buildings on the land of the former central vegetable market.

The project includes 63 settler units divided between two six-story buildings above ground and two underground parking levels, along with a third three-story structure housing classrooms, a library, and a synagogue, covering a total area of approximately 12,500 square meters, according to the statement.

The market was once a major produce center but was closed to Palestinians after the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, when an extremist Israeli settler killed 29 Palestinians and wounded at least 125 others inside the holy site.

The municipality denounced the plan as “a blatant assault on its jurisdiction, and a clear infringement on the interests of the city and its residents,” adding that it breaches international humanitarian law, which prohibits the confiscation, exploitation, or destruction of Palestinian property without justification.

Hebron Mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh, currently detained by Israel, had affirmed that the market belongs to the municipality, which holds all ownership documents and has won court cases against Israeli authorities over the site.

In July 2022, the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said that Israeli machinery began demolishing parts of the market in Hebron’s Old City to expand settlements.

Under the 1997 Hebron Protocol, the city was divided into H1 and H2 zones, granting Israel full control over the Old City and its surroundings, where the market is located.

In 2017, UNESCO added Hebron’s Old City and the Ibrahimi Mosque to the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger due to Israeli settlement policies.

The UN continues to affirm that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law and undermine the two-state solution, urging their halt for decades — to no avail.