Israel has approved a sweeping plan to confiscate up to 20 historic Palestinian properties in the Bab al-Silsila neighborhood, directly adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem. According to WAFA News Agency, the Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate warned that the escalation is a calculated move to ethnically cleanse the area of its indigenous population, forcefully displacing local residents and shutting down Palestinian businesses. The targeted real estate includes invaluable architectural structures and Islamic endowments dating back to the Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman eras.

The Jewish Quarter Development Company, an Israeli state-backed entity, has been authorized to execute the forced evictions and expropriations. According to local officials, the plan resurrects an aggressive 1968 military seizure order under the pretext of tightening Jewish control and security around Islam's third holiest site. By targeting Bab al-Silsila (Chain Street), which serves as a primary gateway to Al-Aqsa, Tel Aviv aims to isolate the holy site and aggressively accelerate the Judaization of the Old City.

The move coincides with a broader surge in settler violence and systematic land theft across the occupied West Bank, where settler groups work in tandem with the Israeli government to alter demographic realities. While international bodies and the United Nations repeatedly declare all Israeli settlement activity and property seizures in East Jerusalem illegal, Tel Aviv continues to advance its settlement expansion unchecked, utilizing discriminatory ownership lawsuits and military eviction orders to permanently uproot Palestinians from their capital.

https://t.me/thecradlemedia/59821