On May 6, 2026, Israeli border police informed 50 Palestinian shop owners at a business complex at the entrance to al-‘Izariyya, a Palestinian town just outside the eastern boundary of Jerusalem, that their businesses would be demolished on May 10, and they must vacate their premises immediately.1 The demolitions, which subsequently took place on May 10, are part of the Israeli government’s efforts to build the “Sovereignty Road” through the Palestinian towns of al-‘Izariyya and al-Za‘ayim, which will segregate Israeli and Palestinian traffic and close off the entire area of the West Bank that lies east of Jerusalem to Palestinians. Referred to as the Apartheid Road by Palestinians and activists, the highway is integral in advancing the E1 Plan (see Israel Set to Begin Construction of “Apartheid Road,” Cutting Palestinians Off from Central West Bank). Although it was stalled for decades due to international pressure, the E1 Plan received approval in August 2025.

E1 is widely considered a major step in Israeli efforts to illegally annex the West Bank and implement its vision of a “Greater Jerusalem” (see Israel’s Vision of a Greater [Jewish] Jerusalem].

E1 is only part of a growing list of annexation measures Israel is undertaking that expand Jerusalem’s boundaries while expelling Palestinians from Area C and even Areas B and A of the occupied West Bank. In its latest report, Ir Amim, an Israeli rights group tracking geopolitical developments in Jerusalem, highlights the transformation that is occurring and how Israel’s actualization of Greater Jerusalem is neutralizing and threatening the West Bank’s Palestinian presence.

“Annexation was once understood as deepening Israeli control over territory,” said Aviv Tatarsky, Ir Amim researcher and author of the organization’s new report entitled “Greater Jerusalem—Expulsion and Annexation.”2 “Today, it clearly means something else: annexation also means displacement. Settlements and infrastructure mark the land, but mechanisms such as demolitions, evictions, movement restrictions, violence, and permit regimes are what push Palestinians out of East Jerusalem and the surrounding areas.”

Coinciding with the release of the new report, Ir Amim offered a field tour, led by Tatarsky, on May 5, 2026. The tour, which Jerusalem Story attended, focused on two main areas of the West Bank: Beit Jala and surrounding Palestinian areas (south of Jerusalem), and Beit Sahur—Har Homa—Umm Tuba. The tour “examined how these developments are unfolding on the ground and their implications for the territorial and demographic reality in the area,” aimed at “the explicit annexation of Area C.”3 It included briefings and firsthand testimonies provided by Palestinian residents.

In addition to the Apartheid Road and E1 settlement, Ir Amim noted in its latest report the advancement of four other new settlements and the construction of new road infrastructure.

Adjacent to E1 lies the massive Israeli settlement of Ma‘ale Adumim, which will be expanded eastward toward the settlement industrial zone of Mishor Adumim. This expansion plan, known as “Desert Bird,” is set for construction in 2026 after building tenders were issued in December 2025.4 Along with E1, Desert Bird will create a contiguous Israeli space from Mishor Adumim to Jerusalem and double the settler population of 37,000 in the area.5

To the south of Ma‘ale Adumim, the Israeli government also plans to build a new settlement called Mishmar Yehuda on roughly 3,400 dunams (841 acres) of land. Israel’s Civil Administration categorized the area as state land in December 2025.6 In total, 20,522 housing units for settlers are expected to be built in and around the E1 area.

As Israel expands the boundaries of Jerusalem eastward with E1 and its adjacent settlements, it is also doing the same to the areas north and south of Jerusalem. Israel is expanding the settlement of Geva Binyamin Adam, northeast of the Palestinian town of Hizma, with a new settlement called Adam West. Adam West, however, is not linked to Geva Binyamin Adam. Instead, it will sit on the Jerusalem side of the Israeli-built Separation Wall and act as an extension of the Israeli settlement of Ne’ev Ya’akov in East Jerusalem, thereby expanding Jerusalem’s municipal borders (see In Move Tantamount to Annexation, Israel to Expand Jerusalem’s Municipal Boundaries Northward).

With the approval to establish the settlements of Bar Kochva and Yatziv, Israel is likewise deepening its foothold south into and around the Palestinian city of Bethlehem (see Israel’s E2 Settlement Plan Advances, Threatening to Ghettoize Bethlehem). Both settlements originated as outposts and were legalized in June 2024 and December 2025. While the Israeli cabinet has decided to build settlements where these outposts are located, zoning plans have not been put forward yet, which means the settlements are still technically outposts.

Bar Kochva is located between the Palestinian village of Battir and city of Beit Jala.7 When Yaron Rosenthal, head of the Gush Etzion Council, a settlement bloc south of Bethlehem, signed Bar Kochva’s planning contract in 2025, he alluded to the settlement’s “Greater Jerusalem” purpose.

“We are proud to lead the establishment of the new settlement, which will strengthen Gush Etzion, connect it to Jerusalem, and restore Israeli sovereignty to a historic ridge,” Rosenthal said.8

While Ir Amim notes that Bar Kochva is located deep in a valley, making it impossible to truly connect to Jerusalem, what the settlement is doing is dividing this Palestinian rural enclave and severing it from the metropolitan hub of Bethlehem and Beit Jala.

“We thought one day [these villages] should be connected with Beit Jala and Bethlehem, and so on. Somehow the Israelis have a different plan for this area, to be part of Greater Jerusalem,” Kamal Mukarker, a Palestinian resident of Beit Jala whose family owns apricot trees where the settlement is located, told Jerusalem Story during the Ir Amim field tour on May 5, 2026.9 “For us to lose this part is technically to lose the lung that you breathe through, because Area A [of the West Bank] is so compact today, it feels [like] a refugee camp.”

Violence emanating from Bar Kochva is also serving to displace Palestinian residents, Tatarsky explained.

“Once the settlement is there, it breaks up the Palestinian space—not only because it is there, but because . . . with the violence coming out of it, of course, farmers, they’re not safe in the area,” Tatarsky told Jerusalem Story during the Ir Amim field tour.10 “Their presence now has greatly diminished. The closer you come to the settlement, the [fewer] Palestinian farmers you will find.”

Between the villages of Battir and Husan, Palestinian farmers are increasingly unable to access their land because of Bar Kochva’s attacks. The Bedouin village of Jaba‘ along with its neighbors, which surround the site of the planned Adam West settlement, are also experiencing waves of settler violence.11 Israeli soldiers often accompany these settlers when attacking Palestinian communities.

Bar Kochva has easily been able to secure infrastructure from the Israeli government to maintain the settlement such as wells.

Northeast of it, however, in the village of al-Walaja, building demolitions are intensifying, which is another way that Israel is advancing its efforts to annex the West Bank. According to Ir Amim, since 2024, approximately 50 demolition orders have been distributed to the part of al-Walaja that is designated Area C (see Home Demolitions Spike in East Jerusalem as Ongoing War Averts Attention).12

“Right-wing figures, such as [Rosenthal], who repeatedly call for demolishing homes in al-Walaja, argue that Palestinian construction there disrupts the contiguity between Jerusalem and the settlements surrounding Bethlehem,” the report states.13

Yatziv is situated east of Beit Sahur and Bethlehem. Once established, it will cut this urban area off from the surrounding Bethlehem Governorate towns such as al-‘Ubaydiyya. It is also near the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Khillat al-Nu‘man, which is under threat of the Jerusalem Municipality fully demolishing it (see Israel Increasing Efforts to Expel Jerusalem’s Palestinian Villages and Khillat al-Nu‘man: Expulsion Threat Looms over Isolated Jerusalem Village), as well as Sur Bahir, whose Wadi Hummus section is at risk of demolition.14 Most of the demolition orders in Wadi Hummus are for buildings in Palestinian Authority (PA)-controlled Area A, meaning Israel has no power or authority to enforce building and development here.15 The location of the planned settlement is also close to the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Umm Tuba, whose residents have received expulsion threats from the Israel Land Authority (see Jewish National Fund Secretly Registered More than 100 Palestinian Homes as Its Own).16

The Yatziv site is located next to Road 398, which connects the settlements south of it, Nokdim and Tekoa, to Jerusalem. Rows and rows of Israeli flags are planted along the highway—a symbol that signals what Israel is trying to achieve, Tatarsky explained.

“Today, [Nokdim and Tekoa settlers] want to feel that they are part of the State of Israel, but their daily reality is in a huge contrast to that. Over time, this becomes something very uncomfortable or intolerable [to them],” Tatarsky said. “This is what Israel is working to change. It’s much stronger than [passing an annexation bill].”

“Who is present in the space?” Tatarsky added. “That’s also why all the flags are here. Why do we need flags if the only ones driving here are Palestinians? Because there are few Israelis passing here, and they need to be assured that they are in an Israeli space.”