Israeli authorities are advancing a new plan to establish a large settlement neighborhood inside the Palestinian neighborhood of Umm Lison in occupied East Jerusalem, an Israeli rights group warned Sunday.
In a statement, the Ir Amim organization said the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee approved a plan for building about 450 settlement housing units in Umm Lison after the project had been frozen for more than two years due to infrastructure-related obstacles.
Umm Lison lies between the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jabal al-Mukabber and Sur Baher in occupied East Jerusalem and currently includes around 800 Palestinian housing units.
According to Ir Amim, the new settlement project is expected to significantly alter the neighborhood’s urban and demographic character by introducing hundreds of settlement units into an existing Palestinian residential area.
The organization described the project as “unprecedented” in scale within Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.
It warned that the project could house around 2,000 Israeli occupiers, increasing friction with Palestinian residents and undermining stability in the area.
Ir Amim said the Jerusalem municipality’s move reflects “a clear political choice” to promote illegal settlement expansion rather than an ordinary planning decision.
The group also accused the municipality of favoring occupiers’ interests at the expense of Palestinian residents and their rights in the city.
The UN has repeatedly affirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, warning that they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.
Palestinians insist on East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, based on international resolutions that do not recognize Israel’s 1967 occupation or its 1980 annexation of the city.
