JERUSALEM, 5 July 2026 (WAFA) – The Governorate of Jerusalem Jerusalem Governorate said that the laying of the foundation stone for the so-called “Heritage Center” at the site of the historic Jerusalem International Airport in Qalandiya, north of occupied Jerusalem, constitutes a dangerous escalation in settlement expansion and a flagrant violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2334 UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which affirms the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.
The governorate stated that the move by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu reflects a shift from planning to the imposition of facts on the ground, as part of a systematic policy aimed at reshaping the geographical and historical identity of Jerusalem.
It said the project seeks to seize one of the most prominent Palestinian sovereign landmarks and transform it into a facility serving the Israeli narrative, thereby entrenching an unlawful annexation project.
The statement added that the plan is part of decisions adopted by the Israeli government on 17 May, coinciding with so-called “Jerusalem Day,” aimed at expanding and deepening settlement activity in the city. It includes converting the former Jerusalem International Airport into a cultural and ideological center that reinterprets the site’s history according to an Israeli narrative.
The governorate warned that the project goes beyond the reuse of the building, extending to the reengineering of historical memory by promoting narratives related to “settlement history” and linking the site to Israeli political and military figures, in an effort to erase Palestinian and Arab historical ties to the airport as a symbol of Palestinian sovereignty.
It further noted that the project coincides with wider settlement escalation in northern Jerusalem, including plans for a waste treatment facility on Qalandiya lands, the confiscation of hundreds of dunams, and the displacement or isolation of Palestinian families, in addition to the expansion of the Atarot settlement project Atarot Settlement, which aims to establish thousands of housing units.
The governorate said these measures form an integrated system to reshape Jerusalem’s geography by connecting settlement blocs while fragmenting Palestinian geographic continuity, particularly in the city’s northern areas.
It stressed that Israeli policies are also aimed at undermining Palestinian sovereign symbols, foremost among them the Jerusalem International Airport, and replacing them with settlement projects serving the so-called “Greater Jerusalem” plan.
The governorate warned that these actions are part of a broader political project aimed at imposing irreversible realities on the ground through settlement expansion, land confiscation, and demographic alteration, undermining the prospects for an independent and geographically contiguous Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
It called on the international community to take urgent and effective action to halt these policies, stressing that their continuation constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and relevant UN resolutions, and that international silence effectively enables the occupation to continue altering the identity of occupied Jerusalem.
