News

Palestinians face ‘New Nakba’ in East Jerusalem neighborhoods: Report

May 12, 2026

The long-targeted Palestinian communities of occupied East Jerusalem have faced a significant surge in Israeli ethnic cleansing policies since 7 October 2023, Middle East Eye (MEE) wrote in an investigation released on 11 May.

New ‘Nakba’ in Jerusalem: Israel steps up Silwan demolitions near Al-Aqsa

Palestinians say Israel is using wartime impunity to accelerate expulsions and expand settler-linked biblical parks

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 11, 2026

Activists have referred to the situation in East Jerusalem as a “New Nakba.” The Nakba – Arabic for “catastrophe” – refers to the 1948 establishment of Israel, during which more than 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed and forcibly expelled from their land by ultra-nationalist Jewish militias.

“Israeli authorities have accelerated home demolitions and expulsions across East Jerusalem,” Monday’s MEE report said.

According to the investigation, 20,000 Palestinian-owned homes are currently under Israeli demolition orders across East Jerusalem.

The neighborhoods of Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah, Al-Bustan, and Ras al-Amoud have been the hardest hit.

Israel approves 11-storey ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious school complex in Palestine's occupied East Jerusalem pic.twitter.com/RKDWJblE9i

— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) May 11, 2026

These areas have been facing settler expansionism, demolitions, and forced displacement since the illegal occupation of the holy city in 1967.

Watch| Israeli occupation forces assaulted young men from the Al-Tawil family while carrying out the forced demolition of a room and walls inside the family parking area in the Al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan south of Al-Aqsa Mosque.#Israel pic.twitter.com/FL2qS3Pe26

— Al-Jarmaq News (@Aljarmaqnetnews) May 11, 2026

Yet the situation has rapidly escalated in the aftermath of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

“It increasingly looks as though Israel will – difficult as it is to say – wipe out Al-Bustan. We do not know how to stop it. It is a terrible crisis,” Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at Israeli rights group Ir Amim, told MEE.

“The people of Silwan defended their homes for over 20 years, and now they feel they can no longer stop what is happening,” he added.

Fifty families have been displaced over the past two years from the Battn al-Hawa area alone.

Around 1,500 Palestinians reside in East Jerusalem’s Al-Bustan. Israeli settlers have been carrying out illegal land grabs in the area for decades, with the aim of establishing continuity between settlements and solidifying control over the areas in the holy city.

“If Al-Bustan is emptied of its Palestinian residents, areas of West Jerusalem could be linked more directly to the settlements established inside Silwan. Settler organizations ultimately aim to normalize the idea that Silwan is simply another part of West Jerusalem. If Israel succeeds, and people begin moving from West Jerusalem into Al-Bustan as part of their normal daily life, then very quickly, in Israeli public consciousness, this will no longer be considered Silwan,” Tatarsky went on to tell MEE.

Between the start of the Gaza genocide in October 2023 and October 2025, over 7,100 Palestinians were displaced due to home demolitions across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the UN.

“If there is no real action, there will be a new Nakba for the people of Jerusalem,” said Fakhri Abu Diab, an East Jerusalem resident and activist.

“Al-Bustan matters because it is where we were born and raised, but also because it is the heart of Silwan. If Israel takes control of Silwan, it will pave the way for greater control over Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he added.

Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government came to power in late 2022, Israeli authorities have accelerated plans for an illegal annexation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In February, the Israeli government approved a land registration process allowing Israel to claim territory in the occupied West Bank as “state property” if Palestinians cannot prove ownership – a move that has been described as “de facto annexation.”

A few weeks later, dozens of new illegal settlements were approved.

Last year, Netanyahu signed off on reviving the controversial E1 settlement project. The project aims to link Maale Adumim to occupied East Jerusalem, which is viewed as integral to a future Palestinian state.