Massive settlement plan in Sheikh Jarrah and eviction notices for homes in Silwan

Official Palestinian sources revealed that the Israeli occupation authorities have approved a new settlement plan targeting the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem. This decision coincided with the distribution of military notices to evacuate Palestinian homes in Silwan for the benefit of settlement associations, sparking a widespread Arab and Islamic condemnation wave.

The Jerusalem Governorate reported that the so-called 'District Planning Committee' of the occupation municipality approved the establishment of a massive religious school for ultra-Orthodox Jews ('Haredim') under the name 'Or Somayach'. This approval came despite legal and human rights objections, in a step that the Governorate considered an insistence on policies to strengthen the colonial presence within Arab neighborhoods.

The settlement project includes the construction of an 11-story building on an area of up to 5 dunams (approximately 1.25 acres) at a site opposite the historic Sheikh Jarrah Mosque. The building will include internal housing for hundreds of extremist students and residential units for the teaching staff, which portends a radical demographic and geographic change in the northern area of the Old City.

The Governorate affirmed in its statement that these Talmudic academies are used as political tools to Judaize Palestinian neighborhoods and tighten the noose on their original inhabitants to push them towards forced displacement. It indicated that the occupation is exploiting regional and international preoccupation with military escalation to pass colonial plans aimed at imposing new realities on the ground.

In a related context, teams from the Israeli 'Execution and Enforcement Department' stormed the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in Silwan under heavy protection from the occupation police. The teams handed the head of the neighborhood committee, Zuhair al-Rajabi, eviction notices targeting seven siblings from his family, giving them a deadline until mid-May to leave their homes.

Local sources explained that these homes are threatened with confiscation for the benefit of the 'Ateret Cohanim' settlement association, which is active in seizing Palestinian properties. Zuhair al-Rajabi mentioned that his family has already lost 30 homes since 2015, and they only have 10 homes left out of 41 that the family owned in the neighborhood.

These measures come as part of a systematic campaign that recently targeted the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood, where 11 homes belonging to the al-Rajabi family were evacuated last March, displacing about 65 Jerusalemites. Settlers also previously seized homes belonging to the Basbous family, as part of a comprehensive plan to empty the neighborhood of its Palestinian residents.

The occupation authorities base their eviction decisions on the 'Legal and Administrative Matters' law issued in 1970, a discriminatory legislation that allows Jews to claim properties they allege they owned before 1948. In contrast, the same law prevents Palestinians from exercising any right to reclaim their properties and real estate from which they were displaced in the occupied interior.

On the diplomatic front, foreign ministers of eight Arab and Islamic countries issued a joint statement condemning the ongoing Israeli violations in occupied Jerusalem. The ministers stressed their categorical rejection of attempts to change the historical and legal status quo in Al-Aqsa Mosque and Islamic and Christian holy sites.

The joint statement, which included Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and other countries, considered the repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa and the raising of the Israeli flag in its courtyards to be a blatant violation of international law. The ministers warned that these provocative actions offend the feelings of Muslims around the world and dangerously fuel the conflict in the region.

The ministers also demanded accountability for those responsible for the escalating settler violence in the West Bank, which included attacks on schools and children. They affirmed the necessity of respecting the historical Hashemite custodianship over the holy sites, and halting all illegal settlement activities that undermine the chances of a just and comprehensive peace.

The establishment of Talmudic academies in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods are not educational projects, but political tools to Judaize the area and pressure residents to leave.