Israeli authorities have greenlit a contentious settlement expansion project that would effectively extend Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries deeper into the occupied West Bank, a move critics are labeling as de facto annexation. The plan, approved last week according to Israeli anti-settlement organization Peace Now, involves constructing a new neighborhood for the Adam settlement (also known as Geva Binyamin) northeast of occupied East Jerusalem.
Despite being presented as merely an expansion of the existing Adam settlement, the project would actually establish a disconnected enclave with no physical connection to the main settlement. This strategic placement would mark the first formal extension of Jerusalem’s boundaries into West Bank territory since Israel’s occupation began in 1967.
Peace Now condemned the move, stating: ‘Under the guise of establishing a new settlement, the government is carrying out de facto annexation through the back door. The new settlement will function in every way as a neighborhood of Jerusalem, with its designation as part of Adam settlement serving merely as a pretext to conceal applying Israeli sovereignty to West Bank areas.’
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth described the plan as part of a broader strategy of ‘blurring the boundaries of the Green Line’—the 1949 armistice line separating Israel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The proposal includes hundreds of housing units intended for Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, to be built on land separate from the main settlement, with previous discussions including possible bridge construction to connect them.
The blueprint indicates construction would begin from the Neve Yaakov settlement in East Jerusalem, effectively enlarging Jerusalem’s jurisdiction for the first time in over five decades. Final approval is expected soon, with implementation possible within few years amid intensified efforts to expand Israeli control over Palestinian lands.
Knesset member Gilad Kariv has submitted an urgent inquiry to Housing Minister Haim Katz regarding potential annexation intentions, warning the move would ‘exacerbate friction between Israelis and Palestinians’ and create unnecessary tensions. Kariv added that the plans contradict Israel’s international commitments and reflect Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ‘complete capitulation to his extremist partners.’
This development coincides with other far-reaching measures approved recently that critics say entrench annexation and weaken the Palestinian Authority’s limited self-rule. These include a proposal allowing authorities to legalize confiscation of unregistered ‘abandoned’ land by reclassifying it as ‘state land’—a process prohibited under international law for occupying powers due to its irreversible nature and use as a sovereignty assertion tool.
The approval follows last week’s measures expanding Israel’s civil control in Areas A and B, where major Palestinian cities are located and which have officially been under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction since the Oslo Accords.