Planning, construction, and demolition

Discrimination in planning and housing

In 2024, plans for over 11,000 housing units were approved citywide. Only 1,000 of the units are in Palestinian neighborhoods, meaning less than 10% of all approved units will serve 40% of the city’s population.​

The discrimination against residents of Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem is evident at every stage of the building bureaucracy. As in previous years, in 2024, numerous master plans for building more than 50,000 housing units in Israeli neighborhoods on both sides of the Green Line in Jerusalem were brought for discussion, but not necessarily approved. These included 18,988 units beyond the Green Line. By contrast, under 2,050 units in Palestinian neighborhoods were brought for discussion. In other words, only 4% of master plan units discussed in 2024 are in Palestinian neighborhoods, and these were not necessarily approved. 

Most building plans for Palestinians that succeed in gaining approval are initiated privately by landowners. However, a joint report by Bimkom and Ir Amim highlights a sharp decline in the ability of Palestinian landowners to advance such plans in recent years, particularly in areas where land is of undetermined status and unregistered. These areas make up around 70% of Palestinian areas in the city. A review of the number of plans in these areas that successfully passed the preliminary stage shows a precipitous drop from an average of about 100 per year to zero in 2023, and seven in 2024. This dramatic downturn in planning for Palestinians in East Jerusalem is due to changes in proof-of-ownership procedures for planning and construction, which are Combining these processes, and especially with the involvement of the Custodian of Absentee Property in planning, has blocked many Palestinian landowners from obtaining the initial approval needed to advance building plans.

For further detail, see the joint Bimkom - Ir Amim report: Planning in East Jerusalem Completely Halted by New Protocol, November 2024

House demolitions

As the number of building permits issued has declined, house demolitions in the city have significantly increased. Selective enforcement and demolition of residential buildings are part of Israel’s discriminatory housing and planning policy that leaves thousands of Palestinians no choice but to build homes without permits as the state fails to respond to the housing needs of the growing population.

The year 2024 saw a record number of demolitions, with 255 structures demolished, including 181 housing units. In Silwan alone, 68 units were destroyed, resulting in the displacement of an entire community. In the al-Bustan neighborhood, which is part of Silwan, the Jerusalem Municipality demolished 23 housing units, amounting to about 25% of the residences in the community. The city’s plan to turn al-Bustan into the King’s Garden Park signals a major step toward Israelizing the neighborhood, with the anticipated expulsion of another 100 Palestinian families and the creation of a contiguous Israeli bloc that cuts through the city from east to west.​

For further reading, see Ir Amim’s report: 2024 in Review: Israeli Policy in East Jerusalem – Aggressive Dispossession and Expulsion Mechanisms Under Cover of War, January 2025.