Israel accelerates illegal settlements in East Jerusalem during war on Gaza

Strategy to prevent a Palestinian state 

Over the past year, while Israel has been at war in both Gaza and Lebanon, promotion of Israeli settlements and the demolition and evictions of Palestinians homes in East Jerusalem, have increased, according to researchers.  

The developments are part of a longer-term trend in which Israel sees an undivided Jerusalem as its capital, opposing the idea of a future Palestinian state. Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, in which Israel occupied and later annexed East Jerusalem, the government has expropriated about one-third of the annexed areas in the city. That is around 24 square kilometres of land, on which it has facilitated the construction of more than 50,000 housing units for use by Israelis, Peace Now says. Plans to increase that number continue, as Palestinian neighbourhoods are increasingly squeezed and under-served.

Under the government of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most right-wing in the country’s history, the idea of full Israeli control over Jerusalem and ousting the city’s Palestinian residents has become mainstream.  

“If we wanted to quote an Israeli official, it would be very fringe people, certainly not people in decision-making positions speaking like this,” Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at Ir Amim, told The National. “In the past year, it's all over the place.”  

Israelis promoting the building of settlements see Jerusalem as solely a holy city for Jews, with Christians and Muslims able to avail of holy places in other countries. Their aim in expanding settlements in the city’s east is openly to block the creation of a contiguous piece of land joining Jerusalem to the West Bank that could form a future, independent Palestinian state.  

“The Christians have a holy city: the Vatican, the Muslims have Makkah and Madinah. Jews have a city that's called Jerusalem ... It's our city,” Arieh King, Jerusalem’s deputy mayor and a fierce advocate for the settlements, told The National in an interview in October.  

Jerusalem holds religious significance to all three Abrahamic religions. Muslims initially prayed towards Al Aqsa Mosque, before being directed to the Kaaba in Makkah. For Christians, Jerusalem was the city where Jesus preached and was crucified.  

The idea of settlement expansion is “to stop any way of a future division of the city”, said Mr King. “I hope it will prevent a Palestinian state. I think a Palestinian state is something very bad for the Arabs.” 

Under international law, East Jerusalem is part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Permanent settlement of occupied territory, such as in the form of settlement building for Israeli usage or forced displacement of the existing population, is a violation of international law as defined by the Geneva Conventions.  

Despite this, Israel applies its own domestic law in East Jerusalem, and researchers have widely documented the use of two pieces of legislation to force Palestinians out.  

Israel’s Absentees’ Property Law of 1950 defines people who left, were expelled, or fled, from their land or property in Mandate Palestine after November 29, 1947 – including Palestinians who escaped to the West Bank or Jordan – as “absentees,” with their assets placed under Israeli state control. Most settler units in East Jerusalem are built on land that has been seized by the Israeli government, nominally for public use.  

“Israel transfers property seized under the Absentees’ Property Law to the Development Authority – established by law – and from there, they make their way to whatever Israel sees as politically suitable, which means basically, settlement,” Dr Suhad Bishara, legal director at Adalah, an independent human rights organisation, told The National.  

This legislation is often used alongside the Legal and Administrative Matters Law of 1970, which allows Israelis to regain ownership of land or property in East Jerusalem that was temporarily transferred to Jordanian control in 1948. However, Palestinians who lost property in West Jerusalem do not enjoy the same rights. 

“It's a right of return for Jews alone,” said Mr Tatarsky. “The Israeli law system discriminates. Whereas Palestinians cannot demand to get back property in West Jerusalem that they lost in 1948, Israelis are allowed by Israeli law to reclaim a property that they or their ancestors lost in the same war in East Jerusalem.” 

It is very difficult for Palestinian Jerusalemites, threatened with eviction, to fight their cases in the courts because of institutional biases, observers say. Those in Batn Al Hawa have spent nearly a decade pushing appeals through Israel’s court system to try to prevent their evictions.  

“Basically, you are fighting a law that is drafted to target you as a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem,” said Dr Bishara. “I’m not saying that there are no chances, but the legal framework is not in your favour because it's meant to function and to work in a way that serves Israel’s political interests.” 

The Israeli claim to Batn Al Hawa is a complex puzzle that dates back to the 1890s. Jewish philanthropists founded an organisation called the Benvenisti Trust, which was registered with the Ottoman courts of the time. It built homes and a synagogue in the area for Jewish immigrants from Yemen. According to Batn Al Hawa's modern-day Palestinian residents, the largely peasant and livestock-rearing community was rejected by Palestinian Jews, who looked down on them, and the Arabic-speaking environment of the Palestinian-majority district welcomed them.

In the revolts against British Mandate rule in the 1930s, the Yemeni Jews left or were ejected from the area. Ateret Cohanim claims the Yemeni Jews were expelled in "Arab pogroms”, while Batn Al Hawa's residents say British authorities told them to leave. The area temporarily came under Jordanian control and Palestinians moved into the area – many of whom had been ousted from their homes in the Old City and parts of what is now Israel.  

In 2001, individuals linked to Ateret Cohanim received permission from a Jerusalem court to revive the Benvenisti Trust. The following year, the Israeli General Custodian, a department within the Justice Ministry responsible for managing assets including properties allegedly owned by Jews prior to 1948, transferred 5,200 square metres of land to the trust’s ownership – the land on which the Palestinian residents of Batn Al Hawa now live.  

Because of the laws that allow Israelis to reclaim property, settler groups such as Ateret Cohanim can use the judicial system to demand Palestinians, who have lived there for decades, to be evicted, human rights researchers say. The same law does not apply to Palestinians.  

Daniel Luria, a spokesman for Ateret Cohanim, said he understood there was a “moral” aspect to the issue and that Palestinians being ousted from Batn Al Hawa should be offered compensation – after court rulings have facilitated eviction orders.  

“Even though it ultimately means eviction, yes – Arabs out, Jews in – ... there is something ethical about not just getting rid of this guy [a Palestinian resident] without some type of payment,” he said.

Mr Luria described the Benvenisti Trust as a separate entity from Ateret Cohanim, although Ateret Cohanim claims responsibility for helping Jews settle into Batn Al Hawa, which some Israelis describe as “the Yemenite village” or Kfar Shiloach. 

He said Palestinians should be allowed to continue to live in Jerusalem and Israel more widely – but only if they recognise it as a Jewish country.  

“If he [a Palestinian] wants to drive me out, if he doesn't accept the Jewish state for Jewish people, then he's an enemy, and he will be driven out,” Mr Luria told The National.  

Palestinian residents, however, do not want compensation – they want to remain living in their homes.  

Nasser Rajabi says he was told by Israeli settlers, when they presented him with his eviction notice, telling him “’if you want compensation, we will provide you with it. You have small children, you poor things, and so on’.

“If that’s the case, why are you ousting me from my home?” he asked. 

Over a dozen lawsuits affecting hundreds of Batn Al Hawa’s Palestinian residents are still being processed in Israeli courts. Nasser’s eviction order is on hold, pending a decision from Israel’s Attorney General.  

Among the unlucky residents, however, include the family of Salem Gheith, a 71-year-old former shoe factory worker who had lived in Batn Al Hawa for 45 years. When The National visited his 50 square metre home in October last year, Mr Gheith pointed out the settler units already surrounding his home, complete with wire fencing and Israeli flags.  

“Between neighbours, there should be a sort of relationship where you say, ‘hello, how are you’. With the settlers, they say things like ‘death to Arabs,’” he said.  

In December, he was evicted from his home in Batn Al Hawa.

“We were ordered to leave on December 10. The police knocked on the door and said, ‘leave’,” explained Mr Gheith.  

A few days later, after he moved out, a fire seemingly caused by electrical wiring broke out and caused extensive damage to the property. Israeli police and settlers later came to the site to inspect it.

“The settlers have taken it, but they have not moved in, I don’t know what is happening. The area is now military site,” he said.  

Mr Gheith, his wife, son, daughter-in-law and six grandchildren were forced to move to rented accommodation in Al Issawiya, in north-eastern Jerusalem. Unable to pay the 2,500 shekels monthly rent, Mr Gheith is relying on his family to cover the cost.  

Jews and Palestinians once lived together harmoniously in Jerusalem, he said, blaming radical policies involving property seizures and expansion of settlements for driving a wedge between the communities.  

“At the time of my grandfather, Jews and Arabs would live together,” he said. “In the 1970s, 80s, I would go round to their houses, sleep at their houses, the children played together, we were happy. But those settlers have ruined everything, they have messed up the government.” 

Settlements promoted under shadow of war

As Israel waged war on Gaza and Lebanon, demolitions of Palestinians homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank have accelerated. The government has also boosted the promotion of East Jerusalem settlements, which are built in violation of international law.  

“Israel is basically seizing the opportunity. All eyes are focused on Gaza and Lebanon. There's less attention on other issues. Israel is rushing ahead and promoting settlements, thinking that this is a good time to do it,” Mr Tatarsky said. “It's very unfortunate that the international community, that countries – like the United States, which Israel is reliant upon now more than ever – are allowing this to happen.” 

Palestinians make up around 40 per cent of Jerusalem’s overall population of just under one million, according to Israeli government statistics cited by Peace Now.  

According to data collected by the organisation, the number of tenders in the 15 Israeli neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem – housing units for construction marketed by the government to contractors – has increased nearly every year since 2017, except for a drop in 2021 and 2022, during the pandemic.  

In turn, while the Palestinian community has grown, the Israeli population of East Jerusalem has also steadily increased over a period of decades, from 167,000 in 2000 to 233,600 in 2022, the last year for which data is available.

Meanwhile, Palestinians are seldom given building permits to expand their neighbourhoods, forcing them into illegal constructions that are then targeted for demolition.  

Just 57 plans for around 1,000 housing units were approved in 2024 for Palestinians in East Jerusalem in 2024, the lowest number in a decade. Furthermore, changes in regulations, which now require proof of land ownership, make actually implementing their construction almost impossible.

In contrast, 120 plans for 11,000 housing units for Israelis were approved – including 3,000 in East Jerusalem – according to figures collected by Ir Amim and Bimkom, an organisation focused on planning rights.  

Human rights researchers are increasingly concerned about settlement projects involving hundreds of housing units within Palestinian districts of East Jerusalem. In a joint report released last year, Ir Amim and Bimkom documented eight settlement projects concentrated in southern East Jerusalem that were promoted during the Israel-Gaza war. If completed, they could add thousands of illegal settler housing units, while squeezing space and services available to Palestinians.  

“Now there is a new trend of four or five plans for big settlements with hundreds of housing units in the heart of Palestinian neighbourhoods,” said Mr Tatarsky. “That means that it also threatens East Jerusalem in itself. When a Palestinian neighbourhood gets hundreds of families of settlers living inside it, with armed guards and so on, it's really going to change everything for them.” 

Among these are settlements initiated by the Israeli General Custodian, a department within the Justice Ministry responsible for managing assets including properties allegedly owned by Jews prior to 1948. The department has long been associated with handing property rights to settler groups, human rights observers say. More recently, it began to initiate settlement plans on lands it administers, which observers believe to be a breach of its mandate and authority. Last year, Ir Amim and Bimkom filed a lawsuit against the General Custodian to challenge what they described as “misconduct”, although it is unclear how that has proceeded.

The Israeli Justice Ministry did not respond to a request for comment from The National. 

These developments include two plans for 1,115 housing units in Givat Shaked, on 4 hectares of land in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Beit Safafa, including four high-rise towers around the Green Line, which is Israel’s internationally recognised border with the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  

“If realised, Givat Shaked will further exhaust the area’s land reserves and envelop the neighbourhood with a built-up Israeli continuum, impeding any ability for its necessary expansion,” the Ir Amim and Bimkom report said.

Another major settlement project in East Jerusalem also highlights the Israeli government’s opposition to UN officials serving Palestinian refugees – the descendants of individuals who fled or were ejected from their homes in 1948.  

Last autumn, authorities ordered the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, to evacuate its premises on a 1,000 square metre site in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah district to make way for the construction of around 1,400 housing units for Jewish Israeli settlers.  

Palestinians also say that the state of emergency, which has been in place in Israel since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities October 7, 2023, is enabling more aggressive enactment of settlement policies.  

“Today, we are in a really hard position because of the state of emergency law, in which they can do anything, because we are in a state of war,” said Zuhair Rajabi. “They are exploiting the situation, the state of war, to take over land and houses.” 

Some Israelis claim that Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem willingly sell their homes to Jewish Israelis, although exact statistics are not clear. Settler movements who facilitate such purchases say Palestinians selling to Jews require identity protection because of the taboos and complexities of selling up to Jewish Israelis.  

“The problem with buying properties today is not that there are no Arabs offering,” said Mr King, the deputy mayor of Jerusalem.  

According to observers and human rights researchers, the number of Israelis moving into East Jerusalem through purchases of existing properties from Palestinians is relatively small, especially in the contested Old City containing the holy sites, and most reside in settlement complexes.  

“The number of houses sold in the Old City to the settlers is very small. Israel, by way of intermediaries, buy one or two houses, but the percentage is very low,” said Mr Assali. “People don’t sell them because they don’t own them. The houses are family endowments and part of family history, which is not for sale.” 

Sometimes Palestinians sell a portion of their properties to Israelis, if they are embroiled in “personal conflicts”, but doing so makes life “hell”, he said. “There are police in the street, you cannot have guests or bring stuff in and out of the house. It’s impossible to describe.” 

For Palestinians forced from their homes in East Jerusalem, the city is home, but now also a source of sorrow for what it is becoming.  

“Every day, I think of my old home and how they forced me from it,” said Mr Gheith from Batn Al Hawa. “And I cry.”