GENEVA, March 6, 2026 (WAFA) – United Nations experts have warned that Jerusalem is facing irreparable harm as a result of accelerated Israeli measures aimed at altering the city’s demographic composition, religious character, and legal status.
In a statement, the experts said Israel, “under the guise of an existential war against Palestinians, is speeding up actions that change Jerusalem’s demographic structure, religious identity, and legal standing, destroying what remains of the city’s pluralistic fabric that has existed for centuries for Muslims, Christians, and Jews.”
The experts highlighted an increase in extrajudicial killings, large-scale demolitions, forced displacement in occupied East Jerusalem, and restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities through checkpoints and closures, which isolate Palestinian communities from social, cultural, economic, and religious life.
“These measures undermine Palestinians’ rights to self-determination and development,” the statement said, noting that policing practices and systematic interference in freedom of worship aim to push Palestinians out of the city. The experts stressed that these actions are not security measures but elements of a systematic project of demographic engineering and exclusive Jewish control.
According to reports cited in the statement, between 2021 and 2025, 144 Palestinians were killed in Jerusalem, at least 11,555 were detained amid allegations of arbitrary arrest and mistreatment, 2,386 demolition or eviction orders were issued, and over 1,732 structures were demolished. Many residents were forced to demolish their own homes under threat of fines or imprisonment.
The statement noted that 33 Bedouin villages, home to more than 7,000 Palestinians, face the threat of forced displacement due to repeated demolitions, land seizures, and deprivation of natural resources, which has disrupted livelihoods and forced many to leave.
Experts also condemned Israeli discriminatory laws that prevent Palestinians from reclaiming property lost between 1947 and 1949 while allowing Jews to do so, and support ongoing evictions in neighborhoods such as Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.
“The International Humanitarian Law and human rights law prohibit the confiscation of private property and forced displacement of protected populations,” the statement said, warning that these practices constitute serious violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and may amount to war crimes.
The experts further warned that Palestinian children’s access to education is deteriorating due to restrictive legislation affecting UNRWA operations, including in East Jerusalem. Repeated military incursions and the growing presence of Israeli colonists have led to harassment, arrests, and severe restrictions on Palestinians’ access to holy sites.
The experts called on the international community to take immediate action, emphasizing that the International Court of Justice ruling confirming the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories obligates states to refrain from recognizing or supporting the occupation and to work collectively to end it.
They concluded by warning that erasing Jerusalem’s cultural richness and the rights of its communities is irreversible and that international inaction constitutes complicity, not neutrality.
M.N
