June 14, 2018

Today, a new plan for 325 housing units in the settlement of Alon (northeast o Kfar Adumim) was deposited for objections, with the prospective impact of extending settlement along the northern edge of the E-1/Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc just east of Jerusalem (see map, page 2). In addition to expanding the residential zone of the settlement, the 360 dunam plan includes commercial, park, and open areas, roads and public buildings.

While the government invests in deepening the settler footprint in the Ma’ale Adumim/E-1 bloc, nearby the entire Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar is at imminent risk of displacement.

Parallel to these events, on Sunday the Greater Jerusalem/Daughter Sub-municipalities Bill will return to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation after having been summarily struck from the agenda by Prime Minister Netanyahu on October 29, 2017 just hours before the scheduled discussion, presumably due to international pressure.

The Greater Jerusalem Bill, introduced in the Knesset by Ministers of Knesset Yoav Kisch and Yisrael Katz on July 10, 2017, seeks to enlarge Jerusalem’s area of jurisdiction to include the local authorities in the three settlement blocs of Ma’ale Adumim (including the E-1 area), Gush Etzion and Givat Ze’ev. Similar to the framing of provisions of the bill to amend the Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel, the move is defined as a change in the municipal status of the local authorities within these settlement blocs. An earlier draft of the bill included application of Israeli law to the enumerated local authorities but the provision was struck from the version introduced in the Knesset. Even in its more limited form, it is difficult to mistake the political significance of the proposed legislation, particularly in light of declarations from its promoters: the annexation of the settlements blocs and “the creation of a Jewish metropolis with a clear Jewish majority [MK Kisch].”

Please see Ir Amim’s comprehensive policy paper, Destructive Unilateral Measures to Redraw the Borders of Jerusalem, for a more in-depth analysis of this and other legislative measures and plans aimed at the de-facto annexation of the three settlement blocs and the displacement of the 120,000 + Palestinians of East Jerusalem living in the neighborhoods beyond the Barrier, displaced in their own city.

Please refer all inquiries to:

Betty Herschman

Director of International Relations & Advocacy

Ir Amim (City of Nations/City of Peoples)

Jerusalem

betty@ir-amim.org.il

054-308-5096

www.ir-amim.org.il

Facebook: www.facebook.com/IrAmimEng

Twitter: @IrAmimAlerts