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<h1 class="gmail-single_title">Israeli occupation authorities to seize Palestinian properties in Bab al-Silsila</h1>
<p class="gmail-single_date">Sunday 20-July-2025 - <font size="1"><a href="https://english.palinfo.com/jerusalem/2025/07/20/343660/">https://english.palinfo.com/jerusalem/2025/07/20/343660/</a></font></p>
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<p>OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)</p>
<p>Israeli occupation authorities have issued a decision to seize
Palestinian properties in the Bab al-Silsila neighborhood, one of the
main entrances of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in a new escalation targeting
Palestinian presence in the Old City of Jerusalem.</p>
<p>The decision, issued by the resigned Israeli Minister of Jerusalem
and Heritage, Meir Porush, includes homes and commercial stores located
along the Bab al-Silsila road leading directly to Al-Aqsa Mosque. No
specific details were provided about the number of properties or their
owners. However, on-the-ground realities confirm that the targeted area
comprises historically Palestinian-owned properties dating back to the
Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman eras.</p>
<p>According to Hebrew media outlets, the decision was made on the eve
of Porush\u2019s resignation, which came amid disputes between Haredi parties
and the government over the exemption of religious Jews from military
service, suggesting the decision was politically motivated to appease
the extremist religious right.</p>
<p>Porush justified his decision by referencing what he called \u201cthe
return of the Old City to the people of Israel in 1967,\u201d claiming that
all property in the so-called \u201cJewish Quarter\u201d was seized at the time by
an Israeli government company tasked with its rehabilitation. He
acknowledged, however, that the current decision has not yet been
implemented on the ground, despite being included in an Israeli land
appropriation map.</p>
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<p class="gmail-has-vivid-cyan-blue-color gmail-has-text-color gmail-has-link-color gmail-wp-elements-2b6154ab916d9c742ac099ab8d27cfaa">A new settlement step</p>
<p>The Jerusalem Governorate affirmed that the decision constitutes a
new colonial step targeting the heart of the occupied city and its
historical and religious landmarks, opening the door to systematic
forced displacement and property theft under a false legal pretext.</p>
<p>In a statement on Sunday, the governorate said that targeting Bab
al-Silsila, with its Islamic landmarks and historical buildings, is part
of intensified efforts to settle the issue of Jerusalem by imposing
Judaizing facts on the ground and clearing the pathways to Al-Aqsa
Mosque of its original Palestinian residents.</p>
<p>The statement added that this decision cannot be separated from the
accelerating Judaization policies, which include settlement expansion,
infrastructure projects such as the Israeli train line cutting through
Palestinian neighborhoods, and land registration schemes turning them
into so-called \u201cstate lands\u201d in service of the colonial project.</p>
<p>The governorate warned that implementing the seizure decision would
turn Bab al-Silsila into a closed settler-only corridor, used
exclusively for settler incursions, threatening freedom of access to
Al-Aqsa Mosque and effectively imposing a siege on Islamic and Christian
presence in the Old City.</p>
<p>The statement noted that the so-called \u201cJewish Quarter\u201d was
originally established on Palestinian land seized since 1968. Before the
Nakba, it spanned no more than five dunums, but later expanded to
around 130 dunums, largely at the expense of properties belonging to
prominent Jerusalemite families, including the Namri, Ghneim, al-Bishty,
al-Ja\u2019ouni, al-Alam, Sharaf, and Burqan families.</p>
<p>The statement also described the intention to seize about 20
properties at this stage as a prelude to a broader phase of displacement
and control, part of an Israeli plan to connect the \u201cJewish Quarter\u201d
with adjacent settler outposts to sever the Old City from its
Palestinian surroundings.</p>
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