OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Israeli government intends to approve 1,030 new settlement units in the towns of Sur Baher and Jabal Al-Mukaber, in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
According to a plan published by Hebrew media, 380 housing units are expected to be constructed in the Nof Zion settlement near Jabal Al-Mukaber, in addition to a school, two synagogues, and commercial areas.
About 650 more housing units, commercial areas, an elementary school, a synagogue, a community center, and a kindergarten will also be built near the Sur Baher neighborhood, between the Ramat Rachel settlement kibbutz and the Har Homa neighborhood.
Israeli settlements are suffocating the occupied city of Jerusalem and besieging its Arab neighborhoods, placing it at risk of Judaization and displacement, as part of the occupation’s plan to establish what is called “Greater Jerusalem” by “legitimizing” the annexation of the settlements sitting on its Palestinian land to the occupying entity, with the aim of Judaizing it, changing its features, and obliterating its identity.
The occupation government plans to annex the settlements of Ma’ale Adumim, Beitar Illit, Givat Ze’ev, Efrat and Ma’ale Mikhmash, and those located to the north, east and south of occupied Jerusalem.
The annexation of settlements under the draft law would isolate occupied Jerusalem from the West Bank, cut off the necessary geographical connection between Bethlehem and Al-Khalil and between Ramallah and Nablus areas.
The annexation plan threatens to displace the Palestinian population in occupied Jerusalem even more, as part of efforts to impose a Jewish demographic majority in the city.
