Ramallah: Human rights activists predict that 70 properties in Hebron city that have been owned, occupied, and used by Palestinians for decades will be seized and given to Israeli settlers.
Concern over the alleged Israeli government plan, which will ostensibly be carried out under the control of the Israeli army, was expressed by Palestinian human rights sources to Arab News.
Israeli forces have already given the municipality of Hebron notice to leave the old municipal building in the Ain Askar neighbourhood close to the entrance to Hebron Old City in anticipation of its seizure. Hebron is located in the southern part of the West Bank. The 205 square metre, two-story structure has two stories. The municipality has been given 45 days by the army to file an appeal.
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Hebron Mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh emphasised that the building is entirely owned by the municipality and that there are legal records to support this claim. "This is a blatant assault on the municipality's property by the Israeli occupation," he said. The municipality, he continued, would employ "all appropriate legal means to protect its property and repel this... aggression."
The international community, human rights organisations, and UNESCO were urged by Abu Sneineh to apply "real pressure" to the Israeli government to halt its settlement plans.
The region is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, necessitating its protection and preservation. "They should intervene quickly to preserve and protect this cultural heritage," said the mayor.
"The Israeli government's seizure of the historic Hebron Municipality building located in the Old City — in order to hand it over to settlement associations — is bullying and a blatant assault on the municipality's property," said Rawhi Fattouh, head of the Palestinian National Council.
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Fattouh emphasised that the structure is a historically significant cultural asset that belonged to the city of Hebron in a statement released by the Presidency of the National Council. He claimed that its appropriation by the occupation amounts to the theft of the city's historical landmarks, a new crime.
The international community, human rights organisations, and UNESCO were urged by Abu Sneineh and Fattouh to put pressure on the Israeli government to stop seizing properties.
According to Asmaa Al-Sharabati, the deputy mayor of Hebron, Israel wants to build a settlement outpost in the Old City's former vegetable market area and confiscate Palestinian properties under the pretence that Jews previously owned them.
Al-Sharabati stated that the municipality is assembling the required documentation to support its ownership of the old municipal building and that it will file an appeal with the Israeli courts to prevent its seizure.
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There are 200,000 people living in Hebron, 800 of whom are Israeli settlers who reside in seven outposts. Some of the most extreme settlers in the West Bank reside in one of those settlements, Father's Hill, including the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Kach leader Baruch Marzel, and Noam Friedman, a senior Kach official.
In April, the number of assaults by the Israeli army and settlers on Palestinian property in Hebron significantly increased. Five Palestinian businesses were destroyed by settlers, and the army ordered several business owners to leave and turn over their structures to the settlers.
The H1 area, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority, is where a portion of this property is located, which is dangerous.