Abdullah Tawfiq Kanaan, Secretary-General of the Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs, stated that the lands formerly known as Qalandiya Airport, located about 11 kilometers north of Jerusalem, are now facing a dangerous settlement plan. The plan involves building around 9,000 housing units on an area of approximately 1,263 dunums to establish a settlement neighborhood for roughly 30,000 ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers (Haredim).
اضافة اعلان
Kanaan noted that the “Israeli District Planning and Building Committee” is scheduled to hold a session on Wednesday to approve this plan.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Kanaan added that the Israeli occupation government continues to implement Judaization and displacement policies in occupied Jerusalem through systematic daily violations, including killings, forced displacement, raids on towns and Islamic and Christian holy sites, in addition to accelerated settlement expansion.
He emphasized that these policies represent a severe demographic threat targeting Palestinian identity and urban connectivity, further isolating Palestinian geography and dismantling family and social fabric, particularly in Jerusalem and its surroundings. These actions are part of so-called “Greater Jerusalem” plans, aimed at undermining the two-state solution and preventing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital within the June 4, 1967 borders.
Kanaan stressed that the Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs is alerting the public to the dangers of the Israeli far-right government’s settlement-imposition policy, which coincides with intensified raids on towns, villages, and holy sites, as well as large-scale arrest campaigns, all carried out amid the absence of international deterrence or accountability. He noted that Israel exploits the international community’s focus on regional and global conflicts, alongside Israeli media promotion of the term “anti-Semitism” to garner sympathy and justify violations.
He also warned that the timing of these Judaization measures and violations with the “Hanukkah” period constitutes a serious alert regarding the implications of Israeli policies on security, stability, and peace prospects in the region. Continued practices of this kind, he said, will lead to further tension and instability.
Kanaan affirmed that Jordan, both its people and its Hashemite leadership, will remain steadfast in its custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, regardless of the challenges and sacrifices. He called on the international community and its legitimate institutions to fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities and hold Israel accountable to international legitimacy resolutions, foremost among them halting settlement activity and ending the occupation.
