LONDON: The Palestinian Authority warned on Thursday that Israeli officials had approved a plan to build an ultra-Orthodox religious school in the predominantly Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.
Jerusalem Governorate said that the Israeli municipality this week gave the go-ahead for the construction of a yeshiva, a traditional Jewish educational institution that focuses on the intensive study of religious texts, called Or Somayach.
The plans are for an 11-story building that would occupy an area of 5,000 sq. meters on a site opposite Sheikh Jarrah Mosque. It would includes dormitories for hundreds of ultra-Orthodox students and housing for staff, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
The site is currently used as a parking lot near the “Green Line” that served as an armistice boundary when Israeli and Arab forces reached an impasse in their 1948 war. It is on Pierre van Paassen Street, close to Road 60, which divides the eastern and western sides of Jerusalem.
A satellite image showing the red-shaded area where an ultra-Orthodox religious school is planned to be built in Sheikh Jarrah. (Wafa)
The governorate cautioned that the project could significantly change the demographic and geographic character of the area.
“Establishing such institutions in Palestinian neighborhoods is not merely educational but serves political objectives, including increasing pressure on Palestinian residents and contributing to displacement, alongside home demolitions and neglect of infrastructure,” it said.
Sheikh Jarrah became a significant flashpoint in June 2021 when many Palestinian families in the area protested against orders evicting them from their homes. Israeli settlers argued in court that they had owned the properties in the area prior to 1948. However, Israel authorities do not permit Palestinians who were displaced in 1948 to reclaim properties inside Israel that they owned at the time.
The area has hosted key Palestinian institutions over the years, including Orient House, which served as the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization until 2001, and several diplomatic missions.
