Israel has advanced a new settlement plan in occupied East Jerusalem, seeking to establish a settlement dubbed “Nofei Rachel” at the main entrance of the Palestinian neighborhood of Umm Tuba, south of the occupied city.

According to a statement issued Monday by the Jerusalem Governorate, Israel’s district planning and building committee has deposited the plan, which would seize approximately 27 dunums of Palestinian land adjacent to Palestinian homes.

The governorate warned that the proposed settlement would have consequences far beyond the construction of new housing units, saying its strategic location would directly disrupt the daily lives of Palestinians and place additional pressure on the community.

Palestinian authorities described the project as part of Israel’s ongoing settlement and displacement policies in occupied Jerusalem, aimed at restricting Palestinian construction and territorial expansion while expanding illegal settlements and imposing new realities on the ground.

The proposed development would further fragment Palestinian neighborhoods and deepen Israel’s control over occupied East Jerusalem, where Palestinians have faced longstanding restrictions on construction, housing and urban development.

Meanwhile, Israeli rights organization Ir Amim said Monday that Israel had advanced three major settlement projects involving more than 3,400 housing units in occupied East Jerusalem in recent weeks.

The organization’s warning comes amid growing concerns over Israel’s accelerating settlement expansion in the occupied city, which Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state.

The latest plans are part of a broader pattern of settlement expansion that Palestinian officials and rights groups say is designed to entrench Israel’s occupation, undermine the territorial continuity of Palestinian communities and make the displacement of Palestinians increasingly difficult to reverse.

For Palestinians, the continued expansion of settlements represents not merely a housing project but another step in the systematic transformation of occupied East Jerusalem and the erosion of the Palestinian presence in the city. (ILKHA)