The Jerusalem Governorate said that Israeli occupation authorities are scheduled on Monday to discuss approving two highly dangerous settlement plans in Sheikh Jarrah and on the land of the former Jerusalem International Airport, constituting a qualitative escalation in occupation policies aimed at eliminating the Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem and completely severing it from its natural and geographical extension in the West Bank.
اضافة اعلان
In a statement issued Sunday, the Governorate explained that the first plan targets the land of the former Jerusalem International Airport and provides for the construction of approximately 9,000 settlement units north of the city on an area estimated at about 1,243 dunams. This would create a massive colonial barrier cutting off geographical continuity between Jerusalem and Ramallah, delivering a severe blow to the prospects of establishing an independent Palestinian state with territorial contiguity.
It noted that discussion of this plan had been scheduled for December 2025 but was postponed at the time due to political considerations, before being reintroduced on the committee’s agenda.
The Jerusalem Governorate stressed that the “Atarot Plan” cannot be separated from its long-term strategic objectives, foremost among them the elimination of what was once envisioned as the future Palestinian state’s airport, which had represented an important symbol of sovereignty and political identity.
The plan also aims to entrench separation between Palestinian communities located behind the separation wall and those in front of it, by creating a human settlement buffer that prevents any possibility of establishing a territorially contiguous Palestinian state.
Additionally, the plan falls within the framework of the Israeli concept of “Greater Jerusalem,” which seeks to annex nearly 10% of the West Bank through a network of tunnels and bypass roads linking settlements northeast of Jerusalem.
Alongside this, the occupation seeks to tip the demographic balance in its favor through policies of displacement and demolition against Palestinians, coupled with colonial population replacement—an approach documented in official Israeli plans and documents.
The Governorate further noted that the committee will also discuss the “Nahalat Shimon” plan in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, specifically in the Ard al-Naqa’ area. This plan entails demolishing the neighborhood and constructing a settlement on approximately 17 dunams, comprising 316 units built on the ruins of the homes of around 40 Palestinian families.
This plan is based on a system of discriminatory, racist laws that allow settler organizations to claim property dating back to before 1948, while Palestinians are denied the same right to reclaim properties from which they were forcibly displaced.
The Governorate warned that what is unfolding in Sheikh Jarrah goes beyond a single plan, amounting instead to a systematic policy aimed at reshaping the neighborhood demographically and urbanistically. Additional settlement projects are being advanced, alongside intensive efforts to link these projects with settlement outposts in the eastern part of the city, passing through areas such as Karm al-Mufti and Mount Scopus, including the surroundings of the Hebrew University.
This linkage is intended to divide the neighborhood into northern and southern sections, facilitate control over it, and connect East and West Jerusalem through a continuous colonial belt within Palestinian neighborhoods, particularly in areas historically classified as buffer zones between 1948 and 1967.
The Governorate added that settler organizations, with the backing of occupation authorities, have for decades led organized campaigns to evict Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah, employing unprecedented legal, planning, and administrative tools to achieve the same objective: forcible displacement and the entrenchment of colonial presence at the heart of the neighborhood. These policies include large-scale “urban renewal” projects involving the construction of around 2,000 settlement units—exceeding the total number of existing Palestinian homes in the entire neighborhood—along with the complete exclusion of Palestinian residents, the registration and settlement of land in favor of settlers, the seizure of public spaces, and their reallocation to serve Jewish religious and nationalist projects.
The targeting of the neighborhood comes as part of a broader effort to target its political and historical symbols, erase the so-called Green Line, and redraw the city’s geopolitical map in a manner that serves the colonial project.
The Governorate emphasized that these plans constitute crimes of forcible displacement and illegal alterations to the status quo, affirming that it will continue to pursue the matter at all legal, political, and international levels in defense of the rights of the Palestinian people and the status of East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.
WAFA
