Hebron Mayor Voices Concerns Over Israeli Expansion of Control in the West Bank

Thu Mar 12 2026 12:07:09 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

As Israel enacts new measures to expand its control over the West Bank, the acting mayor of Hebron raises alarm over the diminishing influence of Palestinian authorities and the potential for conflict.

In a significant escalation of Israeli policies in the West Bank, new legal changes have been announced that extend Israeli authority into Palestinian areas, undermining the autonomy of local governance. Asma al-Sharabati, the acting mayor of Hebron, expressed deep concerns about the implications for Palestinian communities, stating that the measures effectively shut them out of decision-making processes related to urban planning and development. Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for a firm response from the international community amidst fears that these developments could signal the end of negotiations for a two-state solution.

A Palestinian official in the occupied West Bank has described Israel's latest expansion of control there as the end of the road for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Asma al-Sharabati, acting mayor of Hebron, said new legal changes recently announced by Israeli cabinet ministers would leave Palestinian authorities shut out of decisions on urban planning and development, even in areas under Palestinian control.

Hebron is a regular flashpoint in the West Bank - a divided city, where soldiers guard hundreds of Israeli settlers living alongside Palestinians in an Israeli military garrison.

On Sunday, the Israeli security cabinet passed major changes to the established division of powers in the West Bank, set up three decades ago under the US-backed Oslo Accords, signed by both Israeli and Palestinian leaders. These changes include expanding Israeli control beyond its military occupation, into the provision of municipal services in Palestinian-run areas, and broad powers to take over so-called heritage sites across the West Bank – to protect water, environmental and archaeological resources, they claim.

Israel will also assume planning authority at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, one of Judaism's holiest sites, which sits inside the city’s Ibrahimi Mosque.

Now they can simply put their hands on any building and declare it ancient, and the Palestinian authorities are not part of any decision on urban planning or development of the area, said al-Sharabati.

She noted that she had not received any formal notification of Israel's plans, learning about them from Israeli news sources.

Just a few meters from Hebron's bustling vegetable market, past the steel gates of the Israeli checkpoint, lies a tense landscape, characterized by shuttered Palestinian shops and streets closed off to protect Israeli settlers.

Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist living in the volatile divided area known as H2, pointed out that the new legal measures represent a shift from informal expansions of Israeli control into official governance. They are changing the status from Occupied Territories to a legal dispute. It’s annexation of the land without me, as a Palestinian, he remarked.

Israel's plans include providing municipal services to Jewish settlers in Hebron and opening land ownership across the West Bank to private Israeli citizens, further restricting Palestinian rights.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the changes and called for strong international opposition, asserting that they represent a violation of international law and undermine efforts for peace in the region. Meanwhile, the international community watches closely, with many countries condemning the Israeli measures as detrimental to prospects for a two-state solution.