DayofPal– Israeli authorities have approved the construction of new settlement units in occupied East and West Jerusalem, this time taking a vertical approach with high-rise towers due to limited available land, according to a Jerusalem-based expert.
Last week, the Planning and Building Committee of the Israeli-run Jerusalem Municipality approved two major settlement expansion plans comprising 493 new housing units.
Of these, 278 will be built in the Armon Hanatziv settlement in East Jerusalem, and 215 in the Kiryat Menachem settlement in the western part of the city.
The plan for Armon Hanatziv includes two residential towers, each rising 26 stories and housing 278 units, alongside 430 square meters of commercial space.
According to Khalil Tufakji, a Palestinian expert on mapping and settlement affairs, the expansion in Armon Hanatziv is part of a broader Israeli strategy to alter the demographic balance in Jerusalem, especially in the eastern sector, by increasing the number of Jewish residents and reducing the Palestinian presence.
“This vertical construction is a reflection of the current spatial limitations. Over 87% of East Jerusalem is under Israeli control, and more than 52% has been designated as green zones where building is prohibited,” Tufakji daid. “As a result, Israel is shifting towards building upwards.”
Armon Hanatziv was established in 1970 following one of the largest land seizures in East Jerusalem, encompassing 2,240 dunams (about 553 acres) from the Palestinian villages of Sur Baher and Umm Tuba.
It currently houses approximately 15,000 settlers. The new expansion will take place in the southwestern area of the settlement.
Simultaneously, hotel projects are planned in its northern part, and sections of the controversial “American Road” are being developed to serve its residents.
The second expansion project will be located in Kiryat Menachem, in western Jerusalem, on land belonging to the depopulated Palestinian village of Ein Karem, which was ethnically cleansed in 1948.
This plan involves constructing a 39-story tower containing 215 new housing units on a 2.2-dunam (0.54-acre) plot that currently hosts 56 housing units.
Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion has previously announced his intention to oversee the construction of at least 100,000 new housing units in the city, 70,000 of which will be part of urban renewal projects.
However, while Israeli settlements continue to expand and new skyscrapers take shape, Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem face increasing threats of home demolitions.
Over 140 demolitions were documented in the first half of 2025 alone, according to Al Jazeera. Of these, 91 were carried out by the municipality’s bulldozers, while 49 homes were demolished by their Palestinian owners under pressure to avoid steep municipal fines.
Currently, about 300 Palestinians in three East Jerusalem communities, Umm Tuba, Al-Nu’man, and Batn Al-Hawa in Silwan, face imminent forced eviction from their homes and lands.
The vertical expansion underscores not just a change in architectural strategy, but a deepening of Israel’s long-term efforts to entrench control over East Jerusalem, a move that remains illegal under international law and widely condemned by the international community.
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