Israel planning new Jewish settlement in Hebron
Israel’s new hard-right defence minister yesterday ordered officials to start planning a new Jewish settlement in the heart of the divided West Bank city of Hebron. The Defence Ministry said Bennett had instructed departments responsible for the Israeli occupied West Bank “to notify the Hebron municipality of planning a new Jewish neighbourhood in the wholesale market complex”. The market area is on Hebron’s once-bustling Shuhada Street, which leads to a holy site where the biblical Abraham is believed to have been buried. The street is now largely closed off to Palestinians, who have long demanded that it be reopened. The city is holy to both Muslims and Jews and is a flashpoint for clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers.
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