Three Projects, Over 3,400 Units, in Just Weeks
Israeli authorities advanced three new settlement projects in occupied East Jerusalem within the span of a few weeks, encompassing more than 3,400 housing units across the Umm Tuba, Umm Lisan, and Gilo settlement areas, less than three months before Israeli elections. According to a report published by Israeli watchdog group Ir Amim, the accelerated timing of the three plans reflects an attempt to impose new facts on the ground, so that whichever Israeli government follows the current one inherits a settlement reality that would be difficult to reverse.
Buildings up to 14 Stories in a Neighborhood Capped at Four.
In Umm Tuba, Jerusalem’s regional planning committee filed a plan on August 7 for a new settlement called “Nofei Rachel,” comprising roughly 650 housing units on 27 dunams at the main entrance to the Palestinian neighborhood. The project is backed by Australian businessman and settlement activist Kevin Bermeister, with Ir Amim warning its location would directly affect residents’ movement and restrict their access. The group pointed to a stark disparity in planning policy within the neighborhood, noting that Israeli authorities restrict Palestinian construction to no more than four stories. In contrast, the new settlement plan allows buildings up to 14 stories high. The regional committee also filed a separate plan last month for a new settlement of around 450 units in the heart of Umm Lisan, alongside filing an expansion plan for the Gilo settlement, adding more than 2,300 housing units across 195 dunams.
Part of a Broader Push to Redraw Jerusalem’s Map.
Ir Amim researcher Aviv Tatarsky said these are not isolated planning decisions but part of an integrated, deliberately timed settlement policy, arguing that the Israeli government intends to advance three of East Jerusalem’s largest settlement projects just before elections. According to Tatarsky, the goal is to impose new facts on the ground that redraw Jerusalem’s landscape, deepen the city’s separation from the West Bank, and make any future political settlement harder to reach. The current government, despite the approaching elections, is racing against time to entrench a settlement reality that would be difficult for any subsequent government to undo.
The push follows a broader pattern of settlement expansion since 2023, during which Israeli authorities have legalized or announced 102 settlements — a mix of new settlements, outposts, and neighborhood expansions — alongside a sharp rise in the establishment of illegal pastoral outposts, seen as one of the most effective tools for asserting control over land, with 26 new outposts established in 2023, 59 in 2024, and 86 in 2025. Rights advocates argue the strategy has shifted from simply adding housing units toward building interconnected settlement blocs, road networks, and infrastructure that reshape the West Bank’s geographic and demographic map as a whole.