Yedioth Ahronoth: Israel Decides to Establish Settlement in the Heart of Hebron for the First Time in Decades

Translation by SadaNews - The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Wednesday that a settlement construction project has been approved in the heart of the city of Hebron for the first time in decades.

The site explained, as translated by SadaNews, that this was done without the need for approval from the Palestinian-controlled Hebron municipality.

It pointed out that the construction of a 1,000 square meter building for a religious Jewish school near the Beit Romano outpost has been approved.

The site noted that this occurred during the approval by the Higher Planning Council for the construction of 576 new settlement units in the West Bank.

This included construction in Mitzpeh Jericho near Ramallah with 456 units, and in Karnei Shomron, with 120 units after the removal of several objections and efforts made.

This comes a day after Betzalel Smotrich, the Minister of Settlement in the Israeli Ministry of Defense, announced the cancellation of the Hebron agreement.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry later denied this, claiming that it was not approved within the cabinet.

Smotrich said after the new approval, as translated by SadaNews: "We continue to build the land of Israel on the ground, and to implement actual sovereignty for settlement... Bringing thousands of new residents to Mitzpeh Jericho, and building a new building for the religious school in the city of the Patriarchs, are both exciting and important steps at the same time... It is a national step that consolidates our control over the land, enhances Israel's security, and lays clear foundations to prevent the establishment of a terrorist Arab state in the heart of the country," he expressed.