New Israeli housing plan near Jerusalem slammed as ‘disguised annexation’

Israel plans to build thousands of settlement homes near Jerusalem, in effect expanding city’s borders and taking Palestinian land in West Bank, activists say.Published On 16 Feb 2026Palestine’s Jerusalem governorate has denounced an Israeli plan to illegally build thousands of settlement homes, warning it would essentially redraw the city’s boundaries and covertly annex parts of the occupied West Bank.The development plan, unveiled by the Israeli state this month, calls for the construction of 2,570 housing units formally tied to Israel’s Geva Binyamin (Adam) settlement, located northeast of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4UN staffers back Francesca Albanese, condemn European ministers for attackslist 2 of 4Israel’s move to register land ‘systematises dispossession’ of Palestinianslist 3 of 4Netanyahu calls for dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme in any US deallist 4 of 4Kyrie Irving wears PRESS shirt for Gaza journalists at NBA All-Star Gameend of listBut the designated land sits apart from Geva Binyamin, which is separated from it by a highway and a security wall. Israeli media reports said the new construction would instead lie closer and more connected to the Israeli settlement of Neve Yaakov in occupied East Jerusalem.As a result, it would in effect mark the first expansion of Jerusalem’s boundaries since 1967, Israel’s Ynet News site reported.The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem governorate slammed the effort as “a blatant attempt to conceal the annexation process behind misleading planning titles”, according to the authority’s official Wafa news agency.The Israeli rights organisation Peace Now said it was a backhanded way of trying to annex the West Bank.“The new settlement will function in every way as a neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and its designation as a ‘neighbourhood’ of the Adam settlement is merely a pretext intended to conceal a move that effectively applies Israeli sovereignty to areas of the West Bank,” Peace Now said.The housing project, designated for Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, still needs final approval from the Higher Planning Committee of Israel’s Civil Administration and is expected to move forward in a few years, according to Ynet.Displacement of Palestinian peopleIsraeli authorities in recent years have sought to more aggressively seize control of Palestinian land in the West Bank. On February 8, Israel’s security cabinet approved new measures expanding its security control over Palestinian-controlled parts of the West Bank and making it easier for Israeli settlers to buy land there.