AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – The occupying regime of Israel is planning to build six settlements in occupied East Al-Quds, in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods and towns, according to documents obtained by Haaretz.
The custodian general’s unit at the Zionist regime’s so-called ministry of justice has promoted plans to build settlement complexes and neighborhoods for its settlers in various areas of East Al-Quds, which Israel occupied in 1967.
The plans include one settler neighborhood in Sheikh Jarrah, another near the Old City’s Damascus Gate, two near Beit Safafa, and a Jewish community in Beit Hanina and Sur Baher - two Palestinian neighborhoods to the north and south of the Old City, respectively.
Haaretz said that the custodian general’s unit has formed a close collaboration with Zionist settlers groups, including Elad, Ateret Kohanim and Nahalat Shimon, with the aim of forcibly evicting Palestinians from their homes in East Al-Quds and replacing them with settlers.
Nahalat Shimon was behind the attempt to evict tens of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which led to widespread protests in East Al-Quds and the occupied West Bank in May, which were met with violence, and an Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.
In recent years, settler groups have filed lawsuits in Zionist courts against Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and Batn al-Hawa to purportedly prove that Jewish tenants have ownership of Palestinian lands and properties since before 1948, during the British Mandate or before the British seized Palestine from Ottoman rule in 1917.
There are an estimated 900 properties under the authority of the custodian general’s unit.
According to the report, the occupying regime of Israel plans to build dozens of settler units between Beit Safafa and Talpiot south of Al-Quds’ Old City. Another complex is

planned to be built over 3.3 dunams in Sur Baher.
In the Damascus Gate area, another complex for settlers is planned behind Palestinian shops in Al-Musrara market. There are currently 10 Jewish families living in the area in properties sold by the custodian general’s unit to the extremist settler group Homot Shalem.
In Beit Hanina, the Zionist regime is creating settler units over a six-dunam (0.6 hectares) plot of land.
These settlements exclude the project planned for Givat Shaked, which was announced last week and consists of 473 units for settlers, with a synagogue, elementary and reception schools, close to Beit Safafa and Sharafat - two Palestinian neighborhoods on the main road to the city of Bethlehem.
Suhail Khalilieh, a researcher at the Applied Research Institute – Al-Quds (ARIJ) told Wafa news agency that the proposed Israeli settlement plans will dramatically change Al-Quds’ geography and demography.
“The Israeli project in Damascus Gate aims to completely close the area to a Palestinian presence, transform the Holy Basin area [around the Old City] into settlement projects, and completely destroy Arab landmarks,” Khalilieh said.
In October, the Zionist regime also said it was building a new Jewish neighborhood in Givat Hamatos, in southern East Al-Quds near the city of Bethlehem. Givat Hamatos, Atarot and Givat Shaked are all beyond the 1967 armistice line.
Israel makes it impossible for Palestinians in East Al-Quds to build new homes. Since it took control of the city in 1967, it has not approved a single new neighborhood for Palestinians.
As of May, the occupying regime had demolished 61 properties owned by Palestinian residents of East Al-Quds: 33 were houses and the rest were used as commercial and non-residential buildings, according to Ir Amim, an Israel rights group.
In 2019, 358,800 Palestinians and 557,600 Zionist settlers lived in East Al-Quds.