Jerusalem Governorate Warns of Israeli Financial Transfers That Enhance Settlement and Judaization

SadaNews - The Governorate of Jerusalem warned of the continuing Israeli occupation government to pump tens of millions of shekels into colonial projects in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, stressing that this constitutes a serious violation of international law, directly undermining the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, ending the occupation, and establishing its independent sovereign state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The governorate emphasized, in a statement on Sunday evening, that there is no sovereignty for the occupation over Jerusalem or any part of the occupied Palestinian territories.

It clarified that the new financial transfers to be presented this week to the so-called Finance Committee in the Israeli Knesset as part of the 2025 budget, includes 89.25 million shekels for so-called "security" for settlers within Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and financing the import of foreign workers for the construction sector, in addition to 31.3 million shekels for so-called "tunnels" of the Buraq Wall, while the committee had approved within the last two weeks 8 million shekels for the construction of an occupation police center in the town of Jabal Mukaber.

It indicated that the Israeli government funds private security for settlers in East Jerusalem at a cost of nearly 3,000 shekels per settler per month, totaling about 100 million shekels annually, in the context of cementing control and imposing Judaizing facts on the city.

It pointed out that the Finance Committee will also discuss additional transfers for settlements in the West Bank, including 46.7 million shekels to fortify settler buses, raising the total budget for the fortification of transportation for settlements in 2025 to about 70 million shekels, in addition to 5.4 million shekels for demolishing Palestinian homes in the occupied territories, after the budget for the so-called Inspection Unit of the occupation's civil administration had increased in recent years by about 40%, with an additional expected increase of 20%.

The Governorate of Jerusalem added, in its statement, that these allocations come as a continuation of a series of transfers recently approved by the Finance Committee in the Knesset in favor of the colonial project, affirming that these policies are accompanied by an escalation in demolition, persecution, and discrimination procedures, embodying an apartheid system aimed at emptying Jerusalem of its indigenous residents and undermining the elements of their resilience.

It warned that pumping these funds and expanding colonial settlement constitutes an illegal unilateral escalation that keeps the region in a state of constant tension, calling on the international community to bear its legal and moral responsibilities and to take urgent action to stop these policies and hold the occupation accountable.

It affirmed that all Israeli unilateral actions will not change the reality of the Palestinian presence, nor grant the occupation any legitimacy.