DayofPal– A new report published by Bimkom revealed that only 1% of land in occupied eastern Jerusalem registered under Israel’s renewed land settlement process goes for Palestinian owners.
Meanwhile, Israeli state institutions, settlement-linked bodies, and Jewish private owners received control over nearly all the remaining land in the occupied area.
The Bimkom report on land and housing in the eastern part of occupied Jerusalem reveals that Israeli policies have accelerated the systematic theft of Palestinian land while dramatically restricting Palestinian construction and urban growth.
The findings have intensified evidence that Israel uses bureaucratic and legal mechanisms to expand settlements and reshape the demographic balance in the occupied Palestinian capital city at the expense of Palestinians.
According to the report, Palestinians make up around 40% of eastern Jerusalem’s population, yet only 26% of the city’s housing units serve Palestinian neighborhoods.
Israel renewed the Settlement of Land Title (SOLT) procedures in the eastern part of Jerusalem in 2018 after freezing them for nearly five decades following the occupation of the area in 1967.
Israeli authorities presented the move as part of efforts to reduce socio-economic gaps in the city. However, the report argues that the process instead functions as a tool for dispossession and settlement expansion.
Since the procedures resumed, authorities have initiated registration processes on nearly 9,000 dunams, or around 12% of the eastern part of Jerusalem. By the end of 2025, officials had completed registration on roughly 2,300 dunams.
The report says 82% of that land was registered under Israeli state institutions and affiliated bodies, including the Jerusalem Municipality, the Jewish National Fund, the Custodian of Absentee Property, and other government-linked entities.
Another 9% was registered as incomplete ownership under the authority of the General Custodian, which the report warns could later transfer into Israeli private ownership.
An additional 4% went directly to Israeli private individuals or commercial companies, many of them linked to settlement activity in the eastern part of Jerusalem. Churches received another 4% and Palestinians received only 1%.
The report warns that many of the completed registration areas contain Palestinian homes and residential buildings. However, authorities often registered ownership under state institutions or settlement-linked entities instead of the names of the Palestinian residents living there.
The report described the trend as “the taking of land from beneath people’s feet.”
It also linked the land registration process directly to the rapid growth of Israeli settlements in the eastern part of Jerusalem.
According to the report, eight new settlement projects currently stand at different planning stages and include nearly 20,000 settlement units. About half of those units already received final approval.
The report says these projects are located in areas where land registration procedures have already concluded and where ownership shifted into Israeli state or Jewish private hands.
At the same time, Palestinian housing approvals continue to collapse. In 2025, Israeli authorities approved only 640 housing units for Palestinians in Jerusalem, compared to nearly 8,900 units approved for Jewish populations across the city, including 2,500 units beyond the Green Line.
That means Palestinians received only around 7% of approved housing units despite making up nearly 40% of the city’s population.
The report says Israeli authorities tightened land ownership verification requirements in recent years, creating major barriers for Palestinian construction plans and building permits.
Between 2018 and 2022, authorities approved an annual average of around 140 Palestinian planning files for review. Since the policy changes took effect, the number has dropped to around 40.
The decline appears even sharper on unregistered land in Palestinian neighborhoods, which makes up around 70% of the eastern part of Jerusalem.
Between 2018 and 2022, authorities opened around 100 planning files annually on unregulated land. Since the new restrictions began, the number has fallen to just six.
In 2023, authorities did not open a single planning file on unregulated Palestinian land.
The report says the planning freeze has slowed Palestinian construction across eastern Jerusalem while home demolitions and self-demolitions continue to rise.
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