Jerusalem Governorate Warns of Colonial Plan to Separate Northern Jerusalem

SadaNews - The Jerusalem Governorate has warned of a dangerous colonial plan being pushed by the Israeli occupation authorities to establish a large settlement on the land of Jerusalem International Airport, north of occupied Jerusalem, considering it a serious escalation of colonial policy, directly targeting the separation of northern Jerusalem from its Palestinian extension.

In a statement issued today, Monday, the governorate stated that the plan undermines the geographical and demographic connectivity between Jerusalem and Ramallah, in an attempt to impose new colonial realities that undermine any political horizon based on a two-state solution and prevent the development of East Jerusalem as an urban and political center for the Palestinian state.

It clarified that the colonial plan aims to establish around 9,000 colonial units in the heart of a dense Palestinian urban space, including Kafr Aqab, Qalandiya, Al-Ram, Beit Hanina, and Bir Nabala, which poses a direct threat to the integrated Palestinian urban space north of Jerusalem, deepening the policy of separation and isolation imposed on the city and its surroundings.

The Jerusalem Governorate indicated that the so-called "Israeli District Planning and Building Committee" plans to hold a session on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, to discuss advancing Plan No. 101-0764936, and the session may witness the approval of the fundamental principles of the plan, including the allocation of commercial and public spaces, despite previous attempts failing in 2021 due to official objections from the Israeli Ministries of Environmental Protection and Health, in addition to the previous freezing of the plan during the tenure of U.S. President Barack Obama.

In this context, it noted that the Israeli Ministry of Finance had requested in December 2025 the approval of the Knesset Finance Committee to transfer 16 million shekels to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, under the pretext of "rehabilitating contaminated lands," including Jerusalem International Airport, in a move aimed at practically removing what it described as artificial environmental barriers and accelerating the implementation of the colonial project.

The governorate added that the majority of the land in the plan has been classified as "state land" since the British Mandate period, despite large areas of private Palestinian land, which the occupation intends to subject to coercive unification and division procedures without the owners' consent, in a clear violation of private property rights.

The Jerusalem Governorate warned that the implementation of this plan will lead to the establishment of a colonial enclave separating northern Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, deepening the policy of severing the city's connections, affirming that it will continue to expose the plan and address the international community and human rights organizations, considering it a flagrant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions.