An Israeli flag is pictured near the minaret of a mosque at an Israeli settlement in the the old city of the West Bank town of Hebron on June 14, 2019. (Photo credit HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty Images) JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett approved the planning of a new Jewish neighborhood in the West Bank city of Hebron.
The new Jewish neighborhood would double the number of Jews living in Hebron, according to the defense ministry. There currently are about 1,000 Jews living in Hebron in small enclaves amid some 215,000 Palestinians.
The new neighborhood will be built near the city’s old market, which has been owned by Jews since the early 1800s. A Palestinian market operated there first under the Jordanians, and then with Israel’s permission between 1967 and the 1990s.
The market buildings will be rebuilt and will remain in Palestinian hands, the Jerusalem Post reported citing the defense ministry.
The property above the market buildings on the ground floor must be “returned to Jewish hands,” the newspaper reported citing a statement by Bennett’s spokesperson.
A massacre in Hebron in 1929 left 67 Jews dead and led to the evacuation of Jews from the city. Jews resettled there after the 1967 Six-Day War.
Bennett was named defense minister earlier this month by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who previously held the portfolio.
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