WORLD NEWS: Israel accelerates the occupation of the Palestinian city of Hebron: “They can kill us at any time with impunity” | International
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“See all that garbage? The settlers throw it every day,” says Islam Fajuri, a 38-year-old Palestinian, in a house in the old city of Hebron (in the south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank). He looks up and points to a pile of cans, garbage and plastic bags trapped between the bars of the roof of a patio through which wires protrude. “The settlers have occupied the building next door, which was previously a hostel. Now they live next to the house of this Palestinian family who they have threatened and beaten several times,” continues Fajuri, also a resident of the empty and besieged old town and a friend of the members of this household. They ask not to be identified, for fear of suffering new attacks at the hands of the settlers. “But where you can really see the main Jewish settlements is on the roof of this house. Let’s go up,” he proposes. Once at the top, the views are to what is known as the H2 area of Hebron, where, according to census data from the Palestinian National Authority, between 700 and 850 settlers live, protected by thousands of Israeli soldiers. Their houses with gardens, their family cars and the Israeli flags displayed everywhere can be seen from above. A few meters away, in the opposite direction, you can see a couple of Israeli soldiers with rifles on surveillance duty on another rooftop. Two Palestinian women pass by a street in the area of Hebron occupied by Israel, last June. Ammar Awad (REUTERS) It is the image of the Israeli occupation that this Palestinian city has been suffering for decades, an obsession of Jewish nationalism that claims it as its own due to the presence of what Judaism has called the Tomb of the Patriarchs and which for Islam is the Ibrahim Mosque. An occupation that the most radical ministers of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have now accelerated with a final move that comes as the legislature is coming to an end: the suspension of what are known as the Hebron Accords of 1997. Signed, by the way, by Netanyahu himself – who at that time was also Israeli Prime Minister, as now – and the then Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, within the framework of the Oslo Accords, With them it was agreed that Israel had to withdraw its troops from 80% of the city of Hebron so that the Palestinian Authority police could assume control. The H1 zone of the city was created there, where some 210,000 Palestinians live, according to the Statistics Office of the Palestinian Authority. The remaining 20% of the territory, where nearly 50,000 Palestinians live and which includes the Ibrahim Mosque, remained under the control of the Israeli army, although with certain powers (such as urban planning) in Palestinian hands: that is the H2 area that could be seen from the roof of the house of Fajuri’s friends. In reality, Israel never respected that agreement, and more and more families of radical settlers have been arriving in the city. They can be seen in the old town area – which Palestinians do not have access to on many Saturdays during the Sabbath – walking around escorted by Israeli soldiers. Meanwhile, restrictions do apply to Palestinians to access the Ibrahim Mosque, since it remained in the hands of Israel. It can only be reached after crossing a checkpoint. On June 16, Minister Smotrich – who himself resides as a settler in the West Bank, in open violation of international law – wrote on the social network Israel.”For the Palestinian activist Issa Amro, 48, who has spent his entire life fighting and documenting the occupation of his hometown, the most worrying thing is that the breakdown of the 1997 agreements means that the Hebron City Council, now in the hands of the Palestinian Authority, will no longer have powers over the construction and urban planning of the H2 zone.Living in fearIsraeli flags on a building in the old town of Hebron.Mussa Qawasma (REUTERS) “In the end, this means that they annex our land without us. When Smotrich talks about canceling the agreements he is talking about the H2 zone, where the agreement stipulated that the Palestinian Authority maintained construction and planning powers. Life is already very complicated for the Palestinians who live in that area. I sometimes have to go through up to three security checkpoints to get to my house. And if before I already suffered constant electricity cuts, in addition to the fact that Smotrich reduced a 40% of our access to water, now who is going to provide us with services if the Hebron city council is restricted in that area?” of Humanity. Now, they even want to build dormitory buildings for the more than 200 Jews who study at the yeshiva. [centro de estudios religiosos del judaísmo]”He became an activist when Israel closed the University of Hebron, where he studied as a young man, and recognizes that after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 — in which the militia killed 1,200 people in Israeli territory — attacks by settlers and soldiers have skyrocketed. “There are more armed settlers and more attacks. Since 2023 I have put more fences and walls in my house. I look out the window all the time because I have the settlers living a few meters from me. Somehow, we have assumed that they can kill us at any time with total impunity,” he adds. Constant raids The interview takes place in a cafeteria in the H1 zone furthest from the old town, but also punished by the Israeli army. “Every day there are raids by the Israeli army. They enter, break into houses and arrest Palestinians. It’s what the army calls code 0/0: when they call the Palestinian police and ask them to clear the entire city so they can enter without restrictions,” he details. While Amro speaks, a neighbor, Mohamed (not his real name to protect his identity), 35, approaches to greet him. “I’m not surprised that the agreements have been canceled. It was predictable. They are the fruits of what was planted in the past. And now it will make Israel’s control over the city greater on many levels: in permits, in construction… Israel has always treated Palestinians as temporary residents and in this city it is felt more than ever,” he criticizes. Mohamed survives on a salary of 1,400 shekels (400 euros) from his job in a bar. “I worked for many years in a bar in Tel Aviv, but Israel has taken away work permits from Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023. And I can’t go there anymore, unless I risk jumping over the wall illegally. And I don’t want to be killed or enter illegally,” he says. He is also clear that he does not want to leave his land despite the sadness that floods him. “You can see in our faces that there is a high level of depression. You wake up every day and ask yourself: what can I do today? I speak Hebrew and I hear Israelis say all the time: ‘This city will once again be in the hands of the Jews.’ Aerial view of Hebron (West Bank) in November 2025. In the center, the Ibrahim Mosque, which the Jews call the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Ilan Rosenberg (REUTERS) What is happening in Hebron is a reflection of the colonial plans that the Israeli Executive has in its hands for the rest of a West Bank. which has been taking away territory. At the beginning of April, the Netanyahu Government secretly approved establishing 34 new settlements from north to south in that occupied Palestinian territory, according to a report by the NGO Peace Now and reported by several Israeli media. Dubravka Suic.And that is precisely what the activist Amro denounces: “It is not about a specific Government, it is about the Israeli system. “No one has peace with Palestine on their political agenda.”
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Source: This article was originally published by Internacional en EL PAÍS and adapted for our international English-speaking audience.
Read the original article here.