OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
Israel’s settlement policy represents a core pillar in the efforts to change the demographic balance in occupied Jerusalem, as the year 2025 witnessed the occupation municipality approving about 32 structural plans, which included the construction of about 7,200 settlement units, on an area of approximately 1,657 dunums, of the occupied Jerusalem lands.
Israel bets on the strategy of gradual expansion to impose its control over Jerusalem and its surroundings, as the total number of settlement plans approved by the occupation authorities in Jerusalem between 2014 and 2025 reached about 131,545 new settlement units, reflecting a diligent pursuit to intensify the settlement presence at the expense of the Palestinians.
The guillotine of displacement in Khan al-Ahmar
The “E1” settlement project dates back to years ago, as it represents one of Israel’s pillars to dismember the West Bank, and connect the “Ma’ale Adumim” settlement with occupied Jerusalem, and the year 2025 witnessed the approval of the occupation authorities to build more than 4,000 new settlement units, and allocated about 3 billion shekels (about one billion US dollars) for infrastructure, in preparation for the establishment of thousands of additional settlement units.
These projects integrate with the efforts for forced eviction of the “Khan al-Ahmar” community, as the “Regavim” settlement organization submitted a petition to the Supreme Court on 1/9/2025 to demand the demolition of the community, considering it an obstacle to the completion of the “E1” plan, which threatens to uproot the surrounding Bedouin communities such as “Wadi al-Jamal” and “Jabal al-Baba”, which was confirmed by the Israeli prime minister through his direct link between settlement expansion and blowing up the idea of establishing a Palestinian state.
The attempts of forced eviction for the residents of Khan al-Ahmar did not stop at that, as on 19/5/2026, the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, signed an order for the immediate eviction of the “Khan al-Ahmar” community, and media sources quoted Smotrich as saying that his signature on an order to evict “Khan al-Ahmar” comes within his powers as a minister, threatening those he described as his “enemies” that “this is just the beginning.”
The decision brings the file of displacing the community’s residents to the forefront again, following the freezing of the eviction decision due to international pressure.
Smotrich and the Israeli government exploit the tense regional conditions, to move forward in approving more facts on the ground, and intensifying the settlement presence in strategic areas connecting the north of the West Bank and its south.
A settlement outpost in Sheikh Jarrah
Among the projects approved by the occupation authorities is the “Ohr Somayach” settlement project, which was approved by the occupation municipality last April, which aims to establish an extremist religious school “Yeshiva”, on an area of five dunums in a strategic location at the southern entrance of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
The plan is not limited to the educational dimension, but rather goes beyond it to building a huge complex with a height of 11 floors containing educational facilities and housing for hundreds of students and faculty members, turning it practically into an integrated settlement outpost seeking to impose a Jewish demographic weight in the heart of Palestinian residential communities.
The dangers of this project go beyond being just an educational facility, to constitute a geopolitical tool aiming to sever the Palestinian geographical continuity and strengthen the settlement presence in the neighborhood, as the presence of hundreds of settlers in this location paves the way for a new wave of displacement of neighboring Palestinian families, and the escalation of daily attacks under tight security protection that tightens the noose on the residents.
Data indicate that the project obtained many facilities that went as far as granting it the land without tenders, and accelerating the procedures for approving the plans among other things, in the context of the escalating settlement attack in various neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
A new expansion plan for the “Adam” settlement
The beginning of the year 2026 witnessed the approval of huge settlement projects, as at the beginning of the month of February, the Ministry of Housing announced a settlement plan to expand the “Adam” settlement, and the plan includes building about 2,780 settlement units to expand the settlement.
In addition to implementing extensive settlement works including paving settlement roads, and connecting the settlement to infrastructure networks designated for settlers, including parks and public spaces, and entertainment and sports centers, and according to the plan, the first phase of the project will include the construction of 500 settlement units, and the total cost of the project reaches about 120 million shekels (about 40 million US dollars).
Security barracks on the UNRWA headquarters
The Israeli plans did not stop at expanding settlements only, but they extended to targeting the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency “UNRWA”, as the occupation authorities were not satisfied with banning the agency’s work, and then closing its offices in occupied Jerusalem, but at the beginning of the year 2026, they demolished parts of the agency’s headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and the occupation forces raised the Israeli flags on the agency’s building.
The extremist National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, participated in the attacks, supervising the demolition operations, touring inside the headquarters, and declaring, “A historic day and a day of feast, and an important day to impose sovereignty over the place.”
Following up on the plans to transform the UNRWA headquarters into settlement projects, the Army Minister, Israel Katz, announced on 17/5/2026 the approval of the Israeli government on a settlement plan to establish a complex for the Israeli army, provided that it includes a headquarters for the ministry, and a recruitment office, alongside a museum, and these security facilities will be established on the ruins of the UNRWA complex.
The plan stipulates allocating a piece of land with an area of about 36 dunums to the Ministry of the Army without putting out a tender. The project comes within a clear plan to militarize occupied Jerusalem, as at the end of last year, the occupation authorities approved a plan to transfer the main headquarters of the Ministry of the Army and Intelligence to occupied Jerusalem, within a comprehensive plan to transfer the Israeli institutions to the occupied city.
The militarization attempts did not stop at the UNRWA headquarters only, but they extended to other places in the occupied city, as last May, Palestinian sources revealed that the occupation authorities began working on constructing a new complex for the Israeli police at the western entrance of the town of Jabal al-Mukaber near the “Oz” police station, which is expected to be transferred to the new location within a plan aiming to expand the “Nof Zion” settlement.
Controlling Bab al-Silsila
Among the most prominent settlement decisions witnessed in the past months is the approval of the Israeli government on 17 May 2026 of a large settlement plan, and according to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, the plan aims to confiscate real estate and lands and evict inhabited houses in the historic “Bab al-Silsila” road, which is considered the vital artery and the direct link between the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Buraq Wall.
This plan is based on a previous recommendation submitted in the year 2025, to reactivate old confiscation orders dating back to the year 1968, issued under the pretext of “public utility”, where the “Jewish Quarter Development Company” was granted full executive powers for the immediate commencement of seizure, eviction, and ownership transfer procedures, in an explicit effort to impose absolute control over this sensitive strategic path.
This Judaization plan targets in its first phase between 15 and 20 Palestinian properties, with estimates of its gradual expansion to include about 50 buildings and facilities, containing homes for Jerusalemite families, and commercial shops, in addition to historic Islamic landmarks and endowments dating back to the Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman eras, most prominent of which is the “Al-Tashtamuriyya School.”
According to the center, the strategic objective of this plan is to expand the geographical scope of the so-called “Jewish Quarter”, so that its area exceeds 133 dunums, after it did not exceed five dunums before the year 1948, which consolidates the Israeli efforts to impose its full sovereignty, Judaize the public space, and efface the Arabic and Islamic landmarks in the heart of occupied Jerusalem.