Mohammad AlqeeqIsrael’s aggressive push to reshape the geography and politics of Jerusalem and the wider Palestinian territories is neither spontaneous nor defensive. It is the outcome of a long-term strategy to erase the possibility of Palestinian sovereignty, recently being sought by some in the international community, and impose an exclusively Israeli narrative of control.
From Jerusalem to Gaza, each destructive move by Israel serves to consolidate power, displaces Palestinians, and destabilises the region. Without meaningful international intervention, consequences will be felt far beyond the Holy Land.
The shift became unmistakable in 2017, when US President Donald Trump shattered decades of international consensus by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital and moving the American embassy there.
This unilateral act, packaged as part of the so-called “Deal of the Century,” gave Israel a green light to accelerate its plans in Jerusalem.
Settlements expanded, demolitions of Palestinian homes multiplied, and access to holy sites was further restricted. For Palestinians, Trump’s declaration did not just undermine the two-state solution; it buried it.
Israel interpreted Washington’s blessing as a license to entrench sovereignty over Jerusalem at the expense of Palestinian presence and rights.
Trump’s move only accelerated a process already well underway. Israel introduced measures designed to fragment Palestinian society in Jerusalem and to assert exclusive control over its holy sites.
In 2015, restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa Mosque and settler incursions triggered the Al-Quds Intifada, which left thousands injured, detained, or killed. Two years later, the installation of electronic gates at Al-Aqsa’s entrances provoked mass Palestinian protests, forcing Israel into an embarrassing climbdown.
Yet the broader trajectory never shifted: house demolitions escalated, expulsions continued, and settler groups stormed Al-Aqsa with increasing frequency, often under the direct protection of Israeli security forces.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, alongside far-right figures such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, staged high-profile visits to Silwan, a Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa to send a message: Jerusalem will be remade on Israel’s terms, regardless of international law or centuries of religious custodianship.
E1 and the occupied West Bank
This strategy has since extended into the occupied West Bank in ways that reveal its full intent. In August 2025, Israel revived the long-dormant E1 settlement plan, authorising the construction of some 3,500 housing units east of Jerusalem.
At first glance, this may seem like another expansion of Israel’s vast illegal settlement enterprise, but its implications are far more devastating. E1 is a wedge of land that would link Jerusalem with Ma’ale Adumim, one of Israel’s largest illegal settlements, while simultaneously bisecting the occupied West Bank.
By cutting off occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory and severing northern and southern West Bank communities from each other, E1 would make the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state virtually impossible.
Israeli officials have not shied away from stating their intentions. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich bluntly declared that the approval of construction in E1 “buries the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Such candor exposes what Palestinians have long known: illegal settlements are not about housing shortages or security; they are instruments of annexation. Through E1 and similar projects, Israel is formalising what it calls “de facto sovereignty,” expanding its control over occupied territory in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and repeated United Nations resolutions.
If E1 represents Israel’s strategy to carve up the occupied West Bank, Gaza reveals the other side of the coin: direct military domination and forced displacement.
In August 2025, Israel approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, displacing more than a million residents under the guise of “security.” Families have been ordered to evacuate, forced into unsafe and overcrowded shelters in southern Gaza, while reports from humanitarian organisations warn of starvation-related deaths and a spiraling humanitarian catastrophe.
By occupying Gaza City, Israel is executing a plan to permanently reconfigure the enclave, much as it has done in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Taken together, these developments expose a coordinated strategy of expansion.
In Jerusalem, restrictive measures and provocations at Al-Aqsa seek to diminish Palestinian presence and normalise settler supremacy. In the occupied West Bank, E1 aims to fragment Palestinian territory to the point where statehood becomes a fantasy. In Gaza, mass displacement and military occupation signal that Israel intends to remake the territory entirely. This is about erasure, and always has been.
Global silence, local resistance
The consequences are dire and immediate. Fragmented Palestinian communities, stripped of sovereignty and subjected to constant violence, will resist, as they always have.
That resistance, whether in the streets of Jerusalem, the villages of the occupied West Bank, or the refugee camps of Gaza, will inevitably be met with more Israeli force, fuelling an endless cycle of bloodshed.
Beyond Palestine, these provocations threaten to draw in regional powers, destabilising Jordan, Lebanon, and beyond.
Jordan, which holds custodianship over Al-Aqsa Mosque, sees every Israeli encroachment in Jerusalem as a direct threat to its sovereignty and internal stability, particularly given the large Palestinian population within its borders. Lebanon, already grappling with political paralysis and economic collapse, faces constant tension along its southern border as Israeli military incursions and airstrikes escalate.
At the same time, Israel has extended its military footprint across the region, striking targets in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, and most an unprovoked attack on Qatar.
These actions, while not directly tied to Israel’s expansionist project in Palestine, demonstrate how its military aggression increasingly destabilises the wider Middle East.
The international community cannot afford to remain passive. Condemnations from Brussels or statements from the United Nations mean little if they are not matched by concrete measures.
Israel has consistently shown that it will ignore international opinion unless faced with consequences. What is needed is accountability: pressure through diplomatic isolation, restrictions on arms sales, and sanctions targeting settlement enterprises. At the same time, the rights of Palestinians must be upheld as a binding principle of international law.
Global public opinion is shifting. Yet this groundswell must be translated into policy if it is to prevent the tragedy that lies ahead. The alternative is clear: silence will embolden Israel to press forward with annexation in the occupied West Bank, with displacement in Gaza, and with the obliteration of Jerusalem’s status quo.
Jerusalem is not merely a local dispute; it is a barometre of the world’s commitment to justice. Gaza is not a battlefield alone; it is a test of humanity. And the E1 plan is not a technical zoning issue; it is a blueprint for the permanent denial of Palestinian statehood.
Together, they form an expansionist project that threatens not only Palestinians but the stability of the entire region. Unless the world acts decisively, Israel’s drive for total control will lead us all into a conflict without end.
