Project cements Israeli control over strategic Jerusalem–Bethlehem corridor: The Israeli organization Ir Amim reported Wednesday that the Jerusalem “District Planning and Building Committee” approved a major colonial expansion plan on 28 July 2026, authorizing 2,300 new colonial units in the illegal colony of Gilo, built on Palestinian land south of occupied Jerusalem.
The group warned that the project will further entrench the physical separation between occupied East Jerusalem and the southern West Bank.
In its report, Ir Amim said the plan spans roughly 20 hectares (about 200 dunams) and pushes Gilo southward toward Route 60, the main road linking Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
The organization confirmed that the project includes privately owned Palestinian land, including at least 28 dunams seized under the so‑called “Absentee Property Law,” a tool routinely used by Israeli authorities to confiscate Palestinian property for colonial expansion.
Ir Amim stated that the project is part of a broader Israeli strategy to consolidate colonial control in the southern Jerusalem area, alongside ongoing expansion in the colonies of “Givat HaMatos” and “Har Homa,” creating a continuous belt of Israeli colonies that isolates Bethlehem from occupied East Jerusalem.
The targeted area contains Palestinian agricultural land and olive groves, which the organization warned will face bulldozing and uprooting once construction begins.
Ir Amim researcher Aviv Tatarsky said the plan “cuts off East Jerusalem from the Bethlehem area and strengthens Israeli control over one of the most strategically sensitive zones.”
The approval comes amid an accelerated wave of Israeli colonial activity across occupied West Bank, especially around Jerusalem.
In recent years, Israeli authorities have advanced multiple large-scale projects aimed at sealing off Palestinian urban continuity between Bethlehem and East Jerusalem, particularly through the expansion of Gilo, Har Homa, and Givat HaMatos.
These projects form a strategic settlement belt long identified in Israeli planning documents as essential for maintaining demographic and territorial control over southern Jerusalem.
The latest Gilo expansion fits directly into this pattern, reinforcing a continuous Israeli-built corridor that restricts Palestinian movement, blocks natural urban growth, and further entrenches Israeli dominance over the Jerusalem–Bethlehem axis.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
