The Israel-based NGO Bimkom—Planning and Human Rights published a report titled “Land Registration = Land Confiscation: Analysis of Land Registration in East Jerusalem, 2018–2024.”1 The report, released in July 2025, examines how Israel employs land registration procedures in East Jerusalem—especially Israel’s land ownership registration process known as “Settlement of Land Title” (SOLT)—to advance land dispossession, displacement, and settlement expansion at the expense of the Palestinian population.

Bimkom’s in-depth analysis of SOLT processes indicates that contrary to the portrayal of SOLT as a tool for economic development in East Jerusalem, its primary beneficiary is actually the settlement enterprise itself. This conclusion is supported by a detailed examination of official land registry records across Palestinian neighborhoods and adjacent open areas, which reveal systemic patterns of discrimination embedded in the process.

Bimkom’s study draws on data collected through a dedicated SOLT monitoring platform developed jointly with Jerusalem-focused nonprofit Ir Amim. The dataset covers approximately 8,000 dunams of land in East Jerusalem, organized into 232 cadastral blocks that are further subdivided into individual parcels. This area represents roughly 20 percent of land that remained unregistered prior to 2018, which at that time comprised the great majority of the land of East Jerusalem (see Land Settlement and Registration in East Jerusalem).

To assess patterns of ownership and land use, Bimkom examined finalized land registry records at the parcel level, with attention to both residential structures and open land. This includes 44 blocks encompassing approximately 2,000 dunams (5 percent of previously unregistered land). A substantial share of these parcels is in Palestinian built-up areas, particularly in the neighborhoods of Beit Hanina and Silwan, where settler organizations such as Elad have been carrying out efforts to displace Palestinians (see Settler State: Guide to the Israeli Settler Groups That Work to Dispossess Palestinians in Jerusalem).

The report has three sections:

• The first investigates how the land newly registered under SOLT in this period was settled—in other words, who or what was granted title upon completion of the process.
• The second cross-references SOLT data with planning data to discern the spatial consequences of this process and to determine whether the newly registered lands will serve the city’s Palestinian population.
• The third examines a case study of homes in the Palestinian neighborhood Umm Tuba, which illustrates how SOLT operates as a mechanism for land control and the violation of Palestinian property rights.

When Israel unilaterally annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, it suspended land registration procedures (see Land), leaving 73 percent of East Jerusalem land as unregistered land, according to the report. This was accompanied by large-scale expropriations to allow for the construction of settlements. For five decades, this approach enabled Israel to bypass the time-consuming registration process and reduce exposure to international criticism over formalizing claims to land considered occupied under international law.

This changed in 2018, after the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and confidence soared that East Jerusalem would never need to be given up in a final settlement. At that point, Israel moved to unblock and alter land status in East Jerusalem through various means, including SOLT. Although the “reduction of economic and social disparities” and the “promotion of economic development in East Jerusalem”2 were cited as objectives in Government Decision 3790, the data tell another story. According to Bimkom’s documentation, only 1 percent of land registered through SOLT between 2018 and 2024 was in fact registered in the names of private Palestinian landowners, while the sweeping majority was registered to state institutions or Jewish owners.3

While the freezing of these processes has been damaging at the individual level as it prevented Palestinians from owning land, the report argues that its renewal also does not guarantee the protection of Palestinian land rights. This is supported by previous research conducted by Bimkom and Ir Amim, showing how SOLT processes have halted planning and development prospects for Palestinians in the city (see The Settlement of Land Title (SOLT): “The Most Acute Threat Facing Palestinian Residents of Jerusalem Today”).4 According to Bimkom, “SOLT processes can be considered legitimate when fairness and equality before the law can be ensured, a condition never met in East Jerusalem.”5

Bimkom’s data reveal that 42 percent of Jerusalemite land registered in the period studied is in Israeli neighborhoods and settlements, while 58 percent is located within Palestinian neighborhoods. The latter is the sole focus of the study. An overwhelming amount of these parcels (40 percent of the entire SOLT processes) was registered to state institutions, namely, the Jerusalem Municipality and Jewish National Fund, with an additional 5 percent of Jewish ownership (residential or corporate) and 4 percent in church ownership. This leaves Palestinian private landowners with only 1 percent of registered land.6

The systematic discrimination in land ownership is institutionalized through two main mechanisms: the General Custodian and the Custodian of Absentee Property. The General Custodian manages properties classified as “enemy property” since 1948, which allows Jewish owners to reclaim land owned before 1948 while preventing Palestinians from the same practice. In parallel, the Custodian of Absentee Property has the authority to confiscate property owned by those who are declared absentees (see Israel’s Absentees’ Property Law and Its Amendments: Targeting the Absent and the Present at Once).

Together, these mechanisms are enabling Palestinian land seizure and the expansion of settlements. Bimkom’s data show that 180 dunams (10 percent of registered area) were registered in the names of private Jewish owners with a management clause in the name of the General Custodian, while the Custodian of Absentee Property has facilitated the capture of an entire block within the settlement of Givat HaMatos.7

In parallel to SOLT, major settlement plans are underway, with nearly 70 percent of registered land within Palestinian neighborhoods designated for new settlements or infrastructure (see Settlements). These plans are promoted through both state-led and private initiatives, with thousands of housing units planned or under construction. For example, large-scale projects such as Givat HaMatos and Atarot are driven by government institutions, while private companies affiliated with the settlement enterprise promote developments like Kidmat Zion and Nofei Rachel. The report further notes that in many privately promoted plans, the General Custodian has played a central role in conceiving, initiating, and advancing the establishment of settlements.

By examining the overlap between registered land and settlement expansion, the report demonstrates how SOLT fails to serve Palestinian landowners. This is particularly evident given that many of these procedures have been carried out in areas and within projects that offer little-to-no benefit to Palestinian residents. Overall, more than 19,000 settlement housing units are being promoted on land where SOLT procedures have been completed, with approximately 80 percent of that land registered in the name of state institutions. These figures formalize control over land while sidelining long-standing Palestinian claims, effectively transforming a bureaucratic process into a tool for dispossession and land grab.

By contrast, only a small fraction of registered land (about 1 percent) is allocated for Palestinian use or private Palestinian ownership. This includes a block of 17 dunams in Sur Bahir, with a portion of it (8 dunams) registered in the name of the Jerusalem Municipality. The report emphasizes that this case represents only an exception to the rule, which applies to plots adjacent to this block, whose owners are at risk of dispossession and displacement due to SOLT.

The village of Umm Tuba was chosen as the site of a detailed case study, because it represents “clear evidence of Israel’s assault on Palestinian land and housing rights using SOLT.”8 The report examines the unique case of a registered block that was owned and developed by a Palestinian resident who received a building permit from the Jerusalem Municipality after 1967. Nevertheless, a SOLT process was initiated and completed without the knowledge of the Palestinian owners. Eventually, the block was registered to Jewish organizations (Nofei Rachel and JNF) in addition to private owners and placed under the management of the General Custodian.

Not only were the Palestinian residents of the building unaware of the process taking place, but they were also deprived of their legally mandated right to contest the registration by presenting their ownership documents. Although the residents petitioned the court in 2024, and their case is still pending, they were issued an expulsion order in June 2025 and are now under the threat of expulsion and displacement.

As for parcels still considered “under dispute,” plans are already in motion to build and expand settlements. Nofei Rachel is promoting these plans. The report specifically illustrates systemic dispossession and displacement risks associated with SOLT:

The evidence presented in this report shows that Palestinians in East Jerusalem were largely excluded from the land registration procedures under SOLT in this period, which severely compromises Palestinian development and land rights. More concerning is that most of this registered land is earmarked for the construction of new settlements, which will benefit only Jewish residents. As the report notes, “Even if a few Palestinians manage to live in these units, they will be the exception that proves the rule.”10

This SOLT process is accompanied by the systematic erasure of land rights held for decades by Palestinian families, leading to forced displacement and expulsion (see Forcible Home Expulsions). “For Umm Tuba residents,” the report warns, “the threat of eviction has suddenly become a looming reality.”11  It further notes that these outcomes are part of a larger Israeli legal practice that structurally disadvantages Palestinian landowners, as seen in earlier SOLT procedures in the Galilee and Israel’s refusal to recognize Bedouin property rights in the Negev desert.

Having demonstrated that SOLT does not serve Palestinian residents but on the contrary, the interests of the state and its settlement project, Bimkom concludes that the process functions as another mechanism that strips Palestinians from their land and their rights. In response, Bimkom calls for an immediate halt to all SOLT procedures in East Jerusalem. It further recommends preventing expulsions linked to these processes, freezing new settlement construction, and advancing equitable planning policies that address decades of neglect and discrimination.

The threat, however, does not stop at the boundaries of Jerusalem. While the study was being finalized, the Israeli government announced its intention to resume SOLT processes in the West Bank (see Israel Relaunches Land Registration in West Bank to Strip Palestinians of Property). Drawing on the findings from Jerusalem, Bimkom cautions that “Israel will most likely use the SOLT process to further its land grab efforts in the West Bank, while depriving Palestinians of their basic rights.”12