OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem faces a new settlement plan, after the approval of the so-called District Planning Committee of the Israeli occupation municipality on a project to establish a large Haredi religious school in the heart of the Palestinian neighborhood, in a step that Jerusalemites see as part of a continuous Judaization policy aimed at changing the demographic character of the area.
The project stipulates building a religious school bearing the name Ohr Somayach, named after a Torah book authored by Rabbi Meir Simcha ha-Kohen at the beginning of the last century, along with housing designated for around 200 Jewish students, thereby strengthening the Jewish settlement and religious presence within Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied Jerusalem.
The project is viewed as an extension of Israeli plans aimed at establishing control over Sheikh Jarrah, which has turned over the past years into one of the most prominent arenas of confrontation over settlement and forced displacement in Jerusalem.
The member of the Committee for the Defense of Sheikh Jarrah, Yaqub Arafa, said that the neighborhood constitutes a model for Israeli Judaization policies, explaining that the eastern neighborhood is witnessing an increasing expansion of the Jewish presence and settlement services, while the western neighborhood, known as Kubaniyat Umm Haroun, faces wide risks of displacement after the issuance of eviction decisions against Palestinian homes in it.
Arafa added, in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that the occupation authorities seek to legitimize their settlement projects in the area, including the new religious school, alongside a plan to establish a settlement neighborhood on the lands of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the neighborhood.
He pointed out that the new project is being established adjacent to the 1967 line, where a settlement street was paved adjacent to the site designated for the school, as part of Israeli efforts to link West Jerusalem with East Jerusalem and impose a Jewish majority in the city.
Hundreds of Palestinians reside in the western neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in at least 30 houses, at a time when the occupation authorities seized parts of the neighborhood lands over the past years, and established Israeli facilities on them, including a building belonging to the Israeli National Insurance Institute and a health center for the sick fund.
Roots of ownership
Regarding the roots of land ownership, the member of the Committee for the Defense of Sheikh Jarrah Yaqub Arafa explained that the area of the seized land exceeds six dunums, and its ownership belongs to the Abd Rabbo family, pointing out that a Jewish woman had rented the land before 1948 during the period of the Jordanian administration of Jerusalem.
Arafa added that the family possesses official ownership papers, and has fought legal battles before Israeli courts, but the occupation authorities claimed that the land is of Jewish ownership and not leased, before issuing a decision to seize it based on the so-called Absentee Property Law issued in 1950, which Israel used to seize Palestinian lands under the pretext of the absence of their owners.
He pointed out that the occupation transfers these lands to settlement associations and Judaization projects, explaining that the new plan includes establishing an eleven-story religious school, along with housing for more than 200 Jewish students, in addition to other housing units for settlers.
Arafa warned of the repercussions that will result from the project for the Palestinian residents of the neighborhood, saying that the presence of large numbers of settlers will lead to daily harassment under tight Israeli security protection.
He added that the project represents the beginning of a broader plan targeting settlement expansion in the neighborhood leading to the displacement of Palestinian residents, expecting the spread of military checkpoints and the closure of the area during Jewish occasions and holidays.
He stressed that the approval of the project means that implementation works may begin soon, pointing out that such projects are usually completed within about six months.
An old goal to Judaize Jerusalem
For his part, the director of the Jerusalem Center for Economic and Social Rights Ziad Hammouri said that the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood constitutes a permanent target for Israeli settlement projects, explaining that more than 90% of East Jerusalem has been subjected to extensive Judaization operations over the past decades.
Hammouri pointed out that the western neighborhood in Sheikh Jarrah was one of the areas least exposed to settlement, but the new plan includes establishing something resembling a settlement comprising about 250 settlement units alongside the religious school, with the aim of consolidating the Israeli presence in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods.
He explained that the occupation authorities usually begin their Judaization projects by establishing Israeli service institutions, such as post offices or National Insurance, before expanding later into settlement and residential construction.
Hammouri stressed that the ultimate goal of these projects is to impose full control over Jerusalem and Judaize it completely, whether through claims of ownership, confiscation, or classifying lands as government property.
He warned that Jerusalem is witnessing rapid changes on the ground on a daily basis, citing the forcing of Palestinian schools, for the first time since 1967, to close on the so-called Israeli Independence Day during this May.