A recent development agreement signed between the state and the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council would, pending final approvals, establish a new Jewish community that, in practical terms, constitutes the first expansion of Jerusalem since 1967. The plan calls for the construction of approximately 2,780 housing units in what is officially described as a new “neighborhood” of Adam, a community located just northeast of Jerusalem’s municipal boundary.
The project would be built on roughly 500 dunams of land between the Arab towns of Hizma and Al-Ram. The government has committed approximately NIS 120 million for infrastructure, public spaces, and community institutions. Although the development is technically considered a westward extension of Adam, it is physically separated from that town by Route 437 and the security barrier. In practice, it has far greater territorial contiguity with the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov, which lies inside the capital’s municipal borders.
The plan has not yet been submitted to the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Committee, meaning that statutory authorization could take up to 2 years. Nevertheless, the Housing Ministry has already marketed 500 housing units for the first phase.
In a February 3 statement, the Housing and Construction Ministry said: “The agreement constitutes a significant step in continuing the development of the settlement and strengthening the settlement continuity in the area, while providing a response to the demand for housing in and around Jerusalem, and integrating a phased and balanced planning of new neighborhoods alongside the existing fabric.”
The Peace Now organization condemned the move, asserting that it constitutes “the first time since 1967 that Jerusalem has been expanded” beyond the Green Line. “Under the pretext of a new settlement, the government is carrying out a backdoor annexation here,” the group said. “The new settlement will function for all intents and purposes as a neighborhood of the city of Jerusalem.”
It should be noted that the so‑called Green Line is not an “official border,” but the 1949 armistice demarcation lines agreed upon after the War of Independence, marking where armed forces halted fighting. These armistice agreements, including the one with Jordan, explicitly state that the lines were drawn for military considerations and “are agreed upon by the Parties without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines or to claims of either Party relating thereto,” and that they “are not to be construed…as a political or territorial boundary.” This means they were never intended to define permanent sovereign borders. In practice, since there was no peace treaty, the line became a de facto reference point, but it has no legal status as a border for Israel or for any prospective Palestinian state and is explicitly a ceasefire line set solely to end hostilities.
MK Gilad Kariv, an extreme leftist member of the Democrats party, described the plan as “another unprecedented act of annexation,” warning that “annexation will bring about a security catastrophe.”
By contrast, Mateh Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz called the agreement “the realization of the settlement vision,” stating that it would allow the construction of thousands of housing units while upgrading the quality of life for residents.
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