The head of the Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission, Minister Muayyad Sha’ban, warned that Israel has begun a new phase of colonial expansion southeast of occupied Jerusalem, converting the small Mishmar Yehuda illegal outpost into a large illegal colony designed to seize more Palestinian land and deepen Israel’s de facto annexation of the area.
Sha’ban said in a statement Friday that Israeli authorities published a new plan modifying the boundaries of the so‑called “Blue Line” around the Mishmar Yehuda site.
He stressed that the move represents a significant escalation in Israel’s long‑term strategy to impose irreversible facts on the ground, reshape Palestinian geography, and entrench an apartheid‑based colonial regime.
From Outpost to Full Illegal Colony
According to the Commission’s review, Israel approved the conversion of Mishmar Yehuda from an illegal colonial outpost into a full illegal colony in 2023, shortly after the formation of the current far‑right government.
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The newly published “Blue Line” decision outlines expanded borders for the colony, indicating Israel’s intention to build thousands of colonial housing units on stolen Palestinian land.
Sha’ban noted that Mishmar Yehuda is one of 11 illegal outposts that the Israeli government decided to convert into full illegal colonies in February 2023. These include:
- Malakhi HaShalom — 745 dunams declared “state land”
- Avigail and Asa’el — land‑allocation orders issued
- Giv’at Haro’eh and Giv’at Har’el — merged and later included in the announcement of 19 newly recognized illegal colonies
- Beit Hogla — a structural plan recently advanced
- Sde Boaz and Shaharit — also included in the conversion process
He emphasized that these steps reflect Israel’s systematic effort to grant full privileges and infrastructure to illegal colonies at the direct expense of Palestinian land and communities.
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New Land Seizures Documented
Official documents published by the Israeli military on 18 December 2025 show that Israel:
- Added 472 dunams to the colony’s area of control.
- Removed 351.08 dunams.
- Left 2,908 dunams unchanged from the original 1982 declaration.
The 1982 declaration had already designated hundreds of dunams from the lands of Abu Dis and Sawahra, south of occupied Jerusalem, as “state land,” forming the basis for decades of colonial expansion.
Strategic Goal: Isolating Jerusalem From the West Bank
Sha’ban said the new modification further entrenches Israel’s plan to sever occupied Jerusalem from the southern West Bank.
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The expanded illegal colony sits along the Ma’ale Adumim–Kedar colonial corridor, a strategic axis long used to fragment Palestinian territory and prevent territorial contiguity between Jerusalem and surrounding Palestinian governorates.
He warned that the move is part of a broader Israeli strategy to accelerate annexation, expand illegal colonies, and impose a permanent system of territorial fragmentation and demographic engineering.
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.
