JERUSALEM, December 15, 2025 (WAFA) – The Jerusalem Governorate warned of a dangerous colonial plan being pushed by the Israeli occupation authorities to establish a massive colony on the land of Jerusalem International Airport, north of occupied Jerusalem.
The Governorate considered this a dangerous escalation of the colonial policy, directly aimed at severing northern Jerusalem from its Palestinian hinterland.
In a statement issued Monday, the Governorate said the plan undermines the geographical and demographic contiguity between Jerusalem and Ramallah, attempting to impose new colonial realities that jeopardize any political horizon based on the two-state solution and prevent the development of East Jerusalem as an urban and political center for the Palestinian state.
It explained that the colonial plan aims to establish approximately 9,000 settlement units in the heart of a densely populated Palestinian urban area encompassing Kafr Aqab, Qalandiya, Al-Ram, Beit Hanina, and Bir Nabala. This poses a direct threat to the integrated Palestinian urban space north of Jerusalem and deepens the policy of separation and isolation imposed on the city and its surroundings.
The Jerusalem Governorate stated that the so-called "Israeli District Planning and Building Committee" intends to hold a session on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, to discuss advancing Plan No. 101-0764936.
The session may see the approval of the plan's basic principles, 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. The plan was also previously frozen during the administration of US President Barack Obama.
Additionally, the Governorate noted that the Israeli Ministry of Finance requested approval from the Knesset Finance Committee in December 2025 to transfer 16 million shekels to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, under the pretext of "rehabilitating contaminated lands," including Jerusalem International Airport. This move is effectively aimed at removing what it described as artificial environmental obstacles and accelerating the implementation of the colonial project.
It added that the majority of the land included in the plan has been classified as "state land" since the British Mandate period, despite the existence of vast areas of privately owned Palestinian land that the occupation intends to subject to forced unification and division procedures without the owners' consent, in clear violation of private property rights.
The Jerusalem Governorate warned that implementing this plan will create a colonial enclave that will sever northern Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings and deepen the policy of fragmenting the city. It affirmed that it will continue to expose the plan and address the international community and human rights organizations, considering it a blatant violation of international law and resolutions of international legitimacy.
K.T
