Israeli NGOs have raised the alarm over a settlement plan signed by the government which they say would mark the first expansion of Jerusalem's borders into the occupied West Bank since 1967.
The proposal was published in early February as international outrage mounts over creeping measures aimed at strengthening Israeli control over the West Bank, which amount to de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory.
The planned development, announced by Israel's Ministry of Construction and Housing, is formally a westward expansion of the Geva Binyamin, or Adam, settlement situated north-east of Jerusalem in the West Bank.
In a statement, the ministry said the agreement included the construction of around 2,780 housing units for the Geva Binyamin settlement, with an investment of roughly 120 million Israeli shekels (around $38.7 million).
But the area to be developed lies on the Israeli side of the separation barrier built by Israel in the early 2000s, while Geva Binyamin sits on the West Bank side of the barrier and the two are separated by a road.
Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now has warned that the newly proposed neighbourhood would have no territorial or functional link to the existing settlement, underscoring that the project is designed to anchor it directly to Jerusalem instead.
Illegal confiscation of Palestinian land
According to its director Lior Amihai, the plan would connect the area seamlessly to the city while placing it beyond Jerusalem’s annexed municipal borders, meaning it would sit entirely on occupied West Bank land.
Aviv Tatarsky of Ir Amim described the move as a de facto expansion of Jerusalem, noting that residents would effectively be treated as Jerusalemites, further entrenching Israeli control over Palestinian territory under the guise of urban development.
The agreement, signed by Israel’s Construction and Housing Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Binyamin Regional Council, advances what critics view as another step toward the illegal confiscation of Palestinian land.
Though still awaiting review by the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Committee, the plan reflects a broader pattern of settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank.
More than 500,000 illegal Israeli settlers already live in settlements and outposts there as Palestinians warn that such projects tighten Israel’s grip on land meant to form the basis of a future Palestinian state.
Around three million Palestinians live in the territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
