‘Israel’ Expands Settlements and Represses Palestinians in East Jerusalem

After Donald Trump took the oath of office as President of the United States on January 19, 2025, concerns have escalated over sensitive issues surrounding the Palestinian cause and its developments, notably the status of occupied Jerusalem.

Trump's return to power has reignited the appetite of the far-right Zionist factions, eager to seize what remains of Jerusalem, after the U.S. president recognized it as the purported capital of “Israel” during his first term and moved the U.S. embassy there.

Jerusalem has long been a battleground between Palestinians and Israelis, with the latter persistently seeking to expand settlement outposts, replace indigenous residents with settlers, and alter the remaining face of the Arab city.

The latest attempts and plans, revealed by the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz on January 23, 2025, show that the Israeli government has begun considering three plans to establish thousands of new settlement units in East Jerusalem.

What are the specifics of these plans? How will they be implemented? What is the area of East Jerusalem? And what is the geographic and historical significance of East Jerusalem in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian war?

Settlement Outposts

Haaretz reported that the Israeli government, through the "Regional Planning and Building Committee," outlined plans for a series of settlement outposts in East Jerusalem.

The initial proposal included the establishment of a religious school for the Haredi community in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem. 

The Haredim are an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect whose roots trace back to Hungary in Eastern Europe.

Haaretz further noted that the new settlement plan envisions the construction of 9,000 housing units in the "Atarot" area, located along the separation wall and near the Palestinian village of Kafr Aqab, home to around 10,000 Palestinians.

“Atarot” was once the site of the "Jerusalem International Airport" in Qalandiya, which was established in 1920 but permanently closed by Israeli authorities after the outbreak of the Second Palestinian Intifada in 2000.

The plans also included the construction of a neighborhood with 1,100 housing units for settlers near the Palestinian village of Sharafat, located to the southeast of Jerusalem. 

This village saw its mosque set ablaze by settlers on January 24, 2020, with racist slogans against Arabs and Muslims scrawled on the mosque walls, in protest against the evacuation of the “Kumi Ori” settlement outpost near the “Yitzhar” settlement in the northern West Bank.

Sharafat was occupied in 1967, located about five kilometers from Jerusalem, with the Arab-Israeli armistice line—'the 1948 borders'—just 300 meters from the village.

The village has also been the site of significant violence. In 1951, Israeli Occupation Forces carried out a massacre at the home of the Mishaal family in Sharafat, killing 11 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children.

In 1967, two days after the June 5th defeat of Arab armies in the Six-Day War, Israeli Occupation Forces occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Objective of the Plan

Anadolu Agency reported, citing Palestinian experts, that the objective behind the establishment of these settlements was to completely isolate East Jerusalem from the northern part of the West Bank.

They added that settlements like "Givat Shaked," along with "Gilo," "Har Homa," and "Givat Hamatos" in the southeastern part of Jerusalem, were designed to sever the city from the southern West Bank.

While the Palestinian Authority remains steadfast in its position that East Jerusalem should be the capital of the sought-after Palestinian state, this claim is based on international legal resolutions that neither recognize the Israeli occupation of the city in 1967, nor its annexation in 1981.

On January 23, 2025, shortly after the Israeli plan was revealed, “the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)” issued a statement condemning the construction of additional settlement units in Jerusalem, calling it part of the "total war against the Palestinian people."

The statement described the Israeli government's announcement of plans to build more settlement outposts and units, including a religious school for extremist Zionists in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, as a new violation in the ongoing war launched by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government against Palestinians.

Hamas added that these plans were aimed at solidifying "new facts on the ground," seeking to impose “Israel’s” claimed sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

The statement warned of the dangerous repercussions of these steps, urging Palestinians to unite and engage in a comprehensive national program to confront these insidious settlement schemes.

East Jerusalem currently covers an area of 70 square kilometers. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' 2023 report, it is home to 320,000 Palestinian residents.

In contrast, 212,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements that have expanded since 1967, in violation of international law.

Furthermore, Israeli authorities prohibit the 4.5 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from residing in East Jerusalem. 

Palestinians cannot enter the city without obtaining Israeli permits, the procedures for which are notoriously complex.

Ongoing Attempts

Since January 2024, Israeli authorities have escalated their repressive measures against Palestinians in East Jerusalem, demolishing dozens of homes and structures in the area.

Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights organizations have reported that Netanyahu’s far-right government is deliberately restricting building permits for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, aiming to reduce the Palestinian population in the city.

On December 16, 2024, Israeli Occupation Forces demolished 9 residential apartments, a parking lot, and a storage facility in al-Bustan neighborhood of the Silwan area, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the grounds of "unauthorized construction."

Israeli bulldozers, accompanied by police forces, raided al-Bustan neighborhood before proceeding with the demolition operation.

The demolitions affected five apartments owned by the Shafei family, two by the Abu Diyab family, one by the Jalajel family, and another by the Bashir family.

Around 31 Palestinians, including children, had been living in these apartments before they were demolished. 

Al- Bustan neighborhood, home to 1,550 Palestinians, contains 116 Palestinian homes.

UNRWA Ban

Among the steps that the Israeli state is preparing to enforce is the imminent ban on the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which will halt its essential services in the occupied territories.

According to Haaretz on January 22, 2025, this move threatens the continuity of UNRWA and paves the way for the annexation of East Jerusalem.

The report revealed that "the UNRWA ban bill is set to take effect in less than two weeks (January 30)."

This would render UNRWA's activities in the Israeli-controlled occupied territories, including Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, illegal.

The Israeli newspaper further reported that “Tel Aviv” plans to replace UNRWA in the health and education sectors, seizing 10 schools, a vocational training center, and three health centers serving 63,500 refugees in East Jerusalem.

Currently, UNRWA oversees the education of 370,000 Palestinian students, who may be transferred to Israeli schools following the ban.

Haaretz described the transfer of UNRWA's schools and health centers in East Jerusalem to Israeli authorities as a de facto annexation of the area, aimed at removing it from any future negotiated resolution and stripping it of any international legitimacy.