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Israel's new defense minister pushes Jewish settlement in Hebron

Exploiting to the fullest the short opportunity he got to serve as defense minister, Naftali Bennett has no qualms about pushing for more Jewish settlements in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron.
Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett looks at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to an Israeli army base in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, November 24, 2019. Atef Safadi/Pool via REUTERS - RC2UHD9FXFTH
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Less than a month on the job, and Defense Minister Naftali Bennett is not wasting a minute of his time. On Dec. 1, he instructed the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to inform Palestinian municipal authorities in Hebron that planning had begun for construction of a new Jewish neighborhood in the compound of the town’s wholesale market, earning accolades from his target audience, the settlers. In doing so, Bennett is seeking to create territorial contiguity from the Tomb of the Patriarchs to the Jewish neighborhood of Avraham Avinu (Our Father Abraham) and to double Hebron’s Jewish population.

According to data compiled by the human rights organization B’Tselem, some 700 Jews currently reside in the area of Hebron designated as H2, which includes the Old City, as well as 250 students in the Shavei Hevron yeshiva. About 34,000 Palestinians also live in H2 and another 166,000 in other parts of the town, designated H1.

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