LONDON: Israel is entering a “new and dangerous phase” to cement its hold over occupied East Jerusalem, using sweeping legal and bureaucratic measures to reshape the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and expand settlements, an Israeli nonprofit said in a new report.
The report, released in late October by human rights group Ir Amim, says the Israeli government is promoting two major housing projects under the guise of urban renewal.
Together, they would see about 2,000 Israeli families settled in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood long emblematic of Palestinian identity.
According to the report, the plans would displace all Palestinians in the western section, a key Palestinian area known as the Western Neighborhood or Umm Haroun.
This push, Ir Amim notes, forms part of a wider set of state actions reshaping control over one of East Jerusalem’s most contested areas.
