AL-KHALIL, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Al-Khalil Municipality announced its rejection of the approval by the Israeli cabinet of decisions that provide for transferring licensing, construction, and municipal administration powers in the city from the municipality to the occupation authorities, or what is called the Israeli Civil Administration, in addition to establishing a separate settlement municipal entity inside Al-Khalil.
The municipality said in a statement issued on Monday that these decisions constitute a direct and unlawful assault on its legal and administrative powers and represent a clear violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law and the rules of occupation that prohibit making structural and permanent changes in occupied territories.
It warned that withdrawing planning and municipal powers, especially in the surroundings of the Ibrahimi Mosque, is considered a dangerous and unlawful change to the existing religious, administrative, and security status quo, threatens freedom of worship and public order, infringes on the rights of Palestinian residents, and harms the social and economic fabric of the city of Al-Khalil.
The municipality confirmed that establishing an independent settlement municipal entity inside Al-Khalil is aimed at isolating Palestinian citizens and seizing the largest possible amount of land with a settlement reference, and comes within the context of a policy of imposing faits accomplis and de facto annexation, in a manner that targets the Palestinian presence in the city.
In turn, Al-Khalil Municipality lawyer Samer Shahadeh clarified that the cabinet decisions reflect a dangerous intrusion into the system of civil and municipal powers and aim to transfer sovereign powers from Palestinian bodies to the occupation authorities without any legal basis or justifications, in explicit violation of international law and the signed and binding agreements.
Shahadeh added that these decisions were taken without following proper administrative procedures and without holding hearings or conducting a serious examination of their repercussions, which makes them illegal, disproportionate, and unreasonable decisions that require their annulment.
Al-Khalil Municipality called on the international community, the Security Council, the United Nations, and all relevant international bodies to intervene immediately and urgently to stop these dangerous assaults targeting the municipality and the city of Al-Khalil, and to assume their legal responsibilities in protecting the rights of Palestinian citizens and putting an end to this unlawful practice.
The Israeli cabinet had approved, during its meeting yesterday, a package of decisions that would bring about profound changes in the administration and registration of land in the occupied West Bank, including allowing the demolition of buildings owned by Palestinians in areas classified as “A” and “B”.
These decisions include transferring construction licensing powers in the city of Al-Khalil, including the surroundings of the Ibrahimi Mosque, from Al-Khalil Municipality to the Civil Administration unit affiliated with the occupation army and under the responsibility of minister Bezalel Smotrich, which would expand the settlement outpost in the city and empty the Al-Khalil Agreement of its content.
The decisions also provide for transforming the Jewish settlement outpost in Al-Khalil into an independent local authority and applying the same procedure to the area of “Rachel’s Tomb” in Bethlehem by separating it from Bethlehem Municipality and establishing a local authority directorate, which effectively means annexing these areas to Israel.
These decisions aim to significantly expand settlement activity, while linking the possibility of canceling them in the future to legal complexities.
One of these decisions includes removing confidentiality from the land registry in the West Bank, allowing access to the names of Palestinian landowners and approaching them directly to purchase their land.
The cabinet also approved imposing oversight and enforcement measures against unlicensed buildings in areas “A” and “B” under the pretext of harm to heritage and archaeological sites, which opens the way for the confiscation of Palestinian land and the demolition of existing buildings.
