East Jerusalem

The East Jerusalem neighborhood of Al-Isawiyyah, home to over 20,000 residents, faces chronic challenges: demolition orders, high density, poor infrastructure, lack of public spaces, and severe obstacles to obtaining building permits. In 2004, residents advocated the replacement of the outdated outline plan. Together with Bimkom and a planning team, they studied options and proposed solutions, but in 2011 the process stalled when it became clear the plan would only shrink living space. Bimkom continued supporting the community, objecting to harmful projects and petitioning against planning abuses. A new plan approved in 2023 does not grant all the space needed but does provide tracks for legalizing existing construction. However, new requirements to prove land ownership now hinder its implementation.

Al-Walaje is an agricultural village of some 3,000 residents in the seam zone of southern Jerusalem. Families have lived there for generations, and the community remains united despite politically imposed divisions: Green Line, Jerusalem’s post-1967 border, Oslo Accords, and the separation barrier. In the early 2000s, residents took planning into their own hands. They prepared a comprehensive plan for the entire village, then submitted separate plans to the relevant administrative authorities. Bimkom, with partners, is helping advance the plan for al-Walaje’s "Jerusalem" part. The plan aims to preserve cultural landscapes, recognize the community in situ, prevent demolitions, and ensure a future of dignified life in this special location. This is a story of community rising from the ruins, insisting on shaping its environment.

For years, we have accompanied Hayy al-Faruq, a small neighborhood on a slope facing Jerusalem’s Old City. Despite its central location, residents face severe accessibility issues, forced to climb the slope daily to reach transportation, schools, and work. In recent years, the Elad settler association developed the slope above, building a zip line and visitors' center. This caused acute drainage problems, with rainwater cascading onto the neighborhood. Stairs became dangerously slick, and the first row of houses was damaged by a landslide. A brief investigation revealed that drainage infrastructure had been blocked during construction. Repeated appeals to the Jerusalem Municipality and Gihon Company yielded mutual blame. Only after residents turned to the State Comptroller did both bodies finally act to locate and clear the blockage.

Beit Safafa sits in southern East Jerusalem, isolated—along with neighboring Sharafat—from the continuous fabric of other Palestinian communities in the city. Between 1948 and 1967, the Green Line ran straight through the neighborhood, dividing families and freezing all development. Though formally "unified" after 1967, the effects of that division remain: the neighborhood stayed fragmented and its growth stifled. Over the years, Bimkom has stood alongside residents in their pursuit of planning justice. Together we formally submitted objections to the establishment of a new Jewish neighborhood in nearby Givat Hamatos, to paving of the Begin Highway straight through the heart of their community, and to plans for the "Givat Shaked" settlement on their lands—a project that would permanently block the neighborhood's ability to expand and develop.