Palestinians in the southern West Bank staged a general strike Dec. 9 to protest Israeli authorities’ intention to build a settlement neighborhood in the old market of Hebron.

The settlement is to replace the huge wholesale vegetable market that the Israeli military closed in 1994 after the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre when settler Baruch Goldstein stormed the mosque and shot dead 29 Palestinians and wounded 150. Israel has enforced the closure for 25 years, preventing merchants from returning.

Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett approved the new settlement project on Shuhada Road at the center of the city. The Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank on Dec. 1 informed the Hebron municipality of authorities’ plan to raze the market and build new shops and other facilities for settlers. According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the plan includes 70 new apartments. City officials were given one month to respond to the notice.

The settlement would create a territorial continuation from the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron to the nearby Abraham Avinu neighborhood. It would, by some estimates, double the number of settlers residing in the Old City. These currently amount to 800.