Palestinian activist Issa Amro has told RT that the move to abolish parts of the Hebron Agreement will fuel violence and instability
Israel has moved to reduce the powers of Palestinian authorities in Hebron, one of the most volatile cities in the occupied West Bank, in a step Palestinians say violates a decades-old agreement and advances annexation.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Tuesday that Israel has “abolished” parts of the 1997 Hebron Agreement, which gave the Palestinian municipality authority over planning, zoning, and construction in parts of the city under Israeli security control.
“For many years, one of the most absurd clauses of the Oslo Accords remained in place,” Smotrich said, claiming that authority over the Jewish settlement in Hebron and holy sites had depended on what he called the “terrorist municipality of Hebron.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry later sought to contain the fallout, insisting that the Hebron Agreement had not been canceled entirely and that only specific planning and construction powers related to the Jewish community in Hebron had been transferred, citing alleged non-cooperation by the Palestinian municipality.
Palestinian officials have condemned Smotrich’s announcement as a violation of signed agreements and international law, and an attempt at further annexation. Hebron Mayor Yousef al-Jabari called it a “racist decision” aimed at stripping the municipality of its powers.
The very next day after Smotrich’s announcement, Israeli planning authorities approved construction of a new Jewish religious school building in Hebron without consulting the Palestinian municipality.
Palestinian activist Issa Amro, who lives in Hebron, told RT that the step is “another proof that the Israeli government is the main obstacle for peace,” warning that the move would increase violence, instability, and settler attacks on Palestinians.
According to the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have risen sharply in the West Bank, from around 852 in 2022, to over 1,820 in 2025. Settlers have already killed 13 Palestinians in the region so far this year, according to UN data, in addition to others killed by the Israeli military.
Amro said life in Hebron is already shaped by Israeli checkpoints, settler violence, army restrictions and shortages of basic services like water and electricity. He added that the annulment of the Hebron Agreement fits Israel’s broader policy of making Palestinian life unbearable in order to push residents out. “It’s a kind of ethnic cleansing policy from the Israeli government,” Amro said.
Smotrich, a far-right minister and West Bank settler who also holds authority in the Defense Ministry over civilian affairs in the region, has repeatedly said his goal is to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state and deepen Israeli sovereignty over the territory.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Most of the international community considers the Israeli settlements illegal under international law, a position Israel rejects.