The government has continued steps in recent years to assert sovereignty in Jerusalem, blurring the boundaries of the Green Line. A housing plan being advanced in the settlement of Adam (Geva Binyamin) in the Binyamin region, indicates that although it is officially presented as an expansion of the community settlement, it would in practice extend Jerusalem’s territory beyond its pre-1967 lines for the first time since the Six-Day War. The move would amount to de facto sovereignty in the area and an expansion of the capital.
The plan calls for hundreds of housing units on land located at a distance from Adam, currently with no direct access from the settlement, though there were past discussions of building a bridge to connect the two. Construction in the designated area would create territorial continuity within Jerusalem and effectively expand the Neve Yaakov neighborhood. According to the plan, the housing is intended for the ultra-Orthodox community.
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Map of the plan to 'expand' the settlement of Adam — effectively an expansion of Jerusalem
Moreover, the access road for the project would begin in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood and loop back into it. In effect, the plan would enlarge Jerusalem’s municipal jurisdiction, something that has not occurred since 1967.
Advancing the plan through the West Bank planning track has become far more efficient following sweeping changes made by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich within the Civil Administration, including the establishment of a new Settlement Administration. The approval process is expected to move quickly, and under the new procedures instituted in recent years, the project could be implemented within a few years. Smotrich has reshaped the government’s approach to settlement construction in the West Bank, replacing lengthy bureaucratic procedures with expedited approval channels.
The housing plan follows a series of dramatic Cabinet decisions regarding the West Bank, as well as the government’s approval this week to resume land registration in the West Bank in the name of the state for the first time since 1967. The moves have drawn criticism from friendly countries in the Arab world and the West, which have condemned them as “de facto annexation.”
The Israeli advocacy group Peace Now sharply criticized the latest move. “For the first time since 1967, under the pretext of a new settlement, the government is carrying out annexation through the back door,” the group said. “The new community will function in every respect as a neighborhood of Jerusalem, and presenting it as a ‘neighborhood’ of Adam is merely a pretext and an attempt to conceal a move that amounts to applying Israeli sovereignty to areas in the West Bank.”
MK Gilad Kariv of the Democrats party submitted an urgent query to Housing Minister Haim Katz, asking whether there is an intention to annex the area of the plan to Jerusalem and whether residents of the neighborhood, officially designated as part of Adam, would receive services from the Jerusalem Municipality.
“The planned step will exacerbate friction between Israelis and Palestinians, stir unnecessary tensions and ultimately harm Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s capital,” Kariv said. “The plans do not align with Israel’s international commitments, including to U.S. President Donald Trump, and they reflect Netanyahu’s complete capitulation to his extremist partners.”