Warnings about Shami Neighborhood Settlement Plan East of Occupied Jerusalem
The Jerusalem Governorate has warned of a new settlement plan known as the “Shami Neighborhood,” emphasizing that it constitutes an advanced tool for reshaping the Bedouin presence in the Jerusalem desert, as part of a broader set of policies pursued by the Israeli occupation to alter the geographic and demographic reality east of the occupied city.
According to a statement issued by the Governorate, the occupation authorities submitted the plan on 25 March 2026, through the Subcommittee for Planning and Licensing of the so-called Higher Planning Council of the “Civil Administration.” The plan targets lands in the town of Abu Dis, covering an area estimated at approximately 169.9 dunams, including the areas of Dhahr al-Raghabneh, Manazil Ali, Batin Bishara, Umm al-Shakhalib, and Dhahr al-Qararit.
The plan aims to convert the land from its agricultural and open uses into an urban residential neighborhood, imposing high building density and extensive road networks. This move reflects the Israeli occupation’s determination to impose new realities on the ground that erase the existing rural and Bedouin character and subject the land to a planning system that serves the settlement project.
The governorate confirmed that the plan directly targets Bedouin communities, including Khan al-Ahmar, Abu Nuwar, and Arab al-Jahalin, along with other communities, by forcibly displacing them to a closed urban area. This would dismantle their social fabric and destroy their pastoral way of life.
This approach constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, as the forced transfer of populations under occupation is absolutely prohibited and cannot be justified by any administrative or planning pretexts. Furthermore, imposing this form of forced “relocation” amounts to a direct assault on human dignity and the right to choose one’s way of life and preserve one’s cultural identity.
The plan is closely linked to the E1 settlement project, through which the Israeli occupation seeks to connect the Ma’ale Adumim settlement to Jerusalem. This represents a dangerous step towards fragmenting the West Bank and isolating its north from its south, effectively undermining any possibility of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state.
This plan represents a clear and direct violation of established rules of international law, foremost among them the prohibition against transferring the occupying power’s population into the occupied territory and the prohibition against making permanent changes to the character of the occupied territory to serve the interests of the occupying power. It also constitutes an attack on the right to adequate housing and livelihoods, as entire communities are being uprooted from their natural environment and subjected to a forced way of life.
Furthermore, granting a period for objections does not alter the coercive nature of these measures. Rather, it is a mere formality lacking even the minimum standards of procedural fairness, given the restrictions imposed on Palestinians. This makes it a tool for legitimizing policies that are fundamentally illegitimate.
This plan reflects the continued use of urban planning as a tool for domination and control, serving settlement expansion at the expense of the indigenous population, in a systematic violation of their fundamental rights. It places the international community before urgent legal and moral responsibilities to halt these policies and ensure the protection of the population living under occupation.
Photo: Israeli construction equipment in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestine. Source: AOHR-UK.
