The Jerusalem Governorate said that the Israeli occupation has approved a plan to establish a Haredi Jewish religious school operated by Or Somayach—a religious institution that functions as part of the Israeli colonial presence in occupied Jerusalem—at the center of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in occupied Jerusalem.
The Governorate stated that the approval comes as the occupation exploits regional distraction caused by the ongoing escalation between the United States and the Israeli occupation on one side, and Iran on the other, to advance colonial projects aimed at imposing new facts on the ground in Jerusalem.
The plan includes an 11‑story building on nearly 5 dunams at the southern entrance of Sheikh Jarrah, directly across from Sheikh Jarrah Mosque, along with dormitory housing for hundreds of Haredi students and residential units for teaching staff.
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The Governorate said the project reflects ongoing efforts to expand illegal colonial presence inside Palestinian neighborhoods and reshape the city’s demographic and political landscape.
Sheikh Jarrah is one of Jerusalem’s most prominent Palestinian neighborhoods and the first to develop outside the Old City walls.
It is home to major national institutions, including Orient House, the former PLO headquarters shut down by the occupation in 2003, as well as the Palestinian National Theatre and several diplomatic missions—making it a consistent target of Israeli colonial policies.
Rawhi Fattouh, head of the Palestinian National Council, said the approval of the Or Somayach project is part of a systematic colonial strategy that uses regional turmoil to impose unlawful changes in occupied Jerusalem.
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He said the Israeli District Planning Committee is acting as a political instrument outside international law, using urban planning to advance annexation and force demographic change.
Fattouh added that targeting Sheikh Jarrah is deliberate due to its political and historical significance and its role as home to key Palestinian institutions. He said the dismissal of legal objections reflects ongoing policies aimed at reshaping Jerusalem to serve the occupation’s colonial agenda, taking advantage of international silence.
He also stated that these measures undermine the Palestinian people’s rights, including their right to self‑determination, and called on the international community to move beyond symbolic statements and take concrete action.
He concluded that Jerusalem remains Arab and Palestinian, and that attempts to impose new realities by force will not erase its identity.
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.
