Israel Moves to Seize Historic Hebron Market for Settlement Expansion

Watan-The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee and the municipality have warned about the Israeli occupation authorities’ plan to seize the land of the old central vegetable market (“Hisba”) in the Al-Sahla area of Hebron’s Old City and establish a settlement outpost on it.

This warning came during a meeting of local and international institutions convened by the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee to discuss ways to counter Israeli plans aimed at taking over the old central market to expand settlements in the heart of the historic city.

Engineer Muhanad Al-Jaabari, Director General of the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, cautioned about the dangers of the Israeli occupation’s actions to seize this area, describing it as a major step in Israel’s continuous efforts to implement its settlement projects, which aim to take control of and Judaize the Old City.

Amjad Abu Hadid, a lawyer for the Hebron Municipality, stated that on January 9, the municipality received a lawsuit from the so-called Israeli Magistrate’s Court, seeking to revoke the municipality’s leasehold protection over the Hisba market. This move would strip the municipality of its legal right to use the area, which spans approximately two dunams and contains more than 18 commercial shops.

He pointed out that the Hebron Municipality has full legal rights to utilize the area, backed by official documentation. The municipality has leased most of the shops in this area to Palestinian merchants who have been forcibly prevented by the occupation from accessing their businesses since the year 2000.

Abu Hadid confirmed that the municipality, in cooperation with its partners and relevant institutions, is taking all necessary legal measures to counter the Israeli lawsuit and defend Palestinian rights.

Legal advisor to the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, Tawfiq Jahshan, highlighted the strategic significance of the Hisba market and the planned demolition of its shops to establish a settlement outpost. He stressed the serious implications of Israel’s success in executing this plan.

He noted that the Israeli lawsuit against the Hebron Municipality is part of a broader effort to strip the city of its rights over the Hisba market, increase settlement presence, and further Judaize the Old City, which has already been under Israeli military closure for the past 25 years.

Escalation of Settlement Expansion in the West Bank

As part of its intensified settlement activity in the West Bank, Israeli settlers have been grazing their cattle on land surrounding Palestinian homes in the village of Fasayil, north of Jericho.

The Al-Baydar organization reported that armed settlers released their cattle onto Palestinian agricultural lands near residential areas in Fasayil, as part of a larger strategy to seize grazing lands and convert them into settlements. The organization emphasized the need for legal intervention to protect Palestinian residents and Bedouin communities in northern Jericho from these attacks.

Meanwhile, Israel’s so-called Custodian of Government Property in the Civil Administration issued six military orders allocating a total of 16,200 dunams of land in the Salfit, Ramallah, and Jordan Valley regions for settlers’ grazing activities.

Mueen Shaaban, head of the Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, stated that Israel is systematically reinforcing agricultural and pastoral settlements, not only by encouraging their establishment but also by officially allocating vast tracts of land to settler militias.

Shaaban explained that these orders deprive Palestinian shepherds of access to their grazing areas, granting settlers full authority to use the lands.

He added that the move is part of the Israeli government’s broader plan to legalize 70 agricultural and pastoral outposts, as previously outlined in coalition agreements between Israel’s ruling parties.

Shaaban warned that allocating these lands for grazing will cement these outposts, granting them large areas that will serve as bases for further attacks on Palestinians and their property. He noted that as of the end of 2024, there were already 137 agricultural and pastoral outposts, preventing Palestinians from accessing approximately 489,000 dunams of land.

Amir Dawood, director of the Monitoring and Documentation Unit at the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, detailed the military orders and their geographic impact.

• The first order targeted the Salfit and Ramallah governorates, specifically the villages of Deir Ballut and Al-Lubban Al-Gharbi, allocating 2,600 dunams for settler grazing. These lands had previously been declared “state land.”
• The second, third, and fourth orders targeted the Ramallah governorate, seizing 1,505 dunams in Kafr Malik and 4,900 dunams in Deir Jarir.
• The fifth order covered the Al-Far’a Valley area in Jericho, affecting 426 dunams.
• The sixth order targeted Tubas, confiscating 8,700 dunams.

Dawood told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that these lands have long been under Israeli confiscation as “state land,” but the recent orders now grant settlers official authorization to use them for grazing purposes.

He emphasized that Israel continues to impose facts on the ground that fragment Palestinian territories, implementing an apartheid system designed to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. The expansion of agricultural and pastoral settlements is one of the most prominent strategies of Israeli settlement expansion today.

Dawood noted that armed settler shepherds, operating with military protection, are using grazing as a tool to seize Palestinian land. This adds to the range of methods Israel employs to expropriate land, displace Palestinians, and control natural resources, particularly water, in the eastern slopes of the West Bank—stretching from southern Hebron to the northern Jordan Valley.

He described Israel’s settlement strategy as following two simultaneous yet interconnected tracks:

1. The official track, which involves state-backed settlement expansion.
2. The unofficial track, where settlers, with government support, directly attack Palestinian lands and communities.

Dawood stressed that these settler assaults are not random; rather, they are a key component of Israel’s apartheid policies aimed at land annexation and ethnic cleansing.

Five Key Goals of Agricultural and Pastoral Settlements

Dawood identified five main objectives behind the establishment of these agricultural and pastoral outposts:

1. Connecting existing settlements by taking control of vast areas of land.
2. Isolating Palestinian communities from one another and cutting them off from natural resources.
3. Forcing Palestinian displacement by making life unbearable, particularly in the Jordan Valley.
4. Creating new settler enclaves that expand Israel’s settlement project.
5. Seizing Palestinian resources, particularly water, in the eastern slopes of the West Bank.

Currently, agricultural and pastoral outposts occupy 270 square kilometers—about 8% of the land classified as “Area C” under the Oslo Accords. For example, six such outposts east of Tubas alone control 49 square kilometers of Palestinian land.

Dawood concluded that these settlement activities represent a dangerous escalation in Israel’s efforts to entrench occupation, undermine Palestinian sovereignty, and eliminate the possibility of a future Palestinian state.